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VIENTARY   EDUCATIONAL   MONOGRAPHS 

Published  in  conjunction  with 

C.  REVIEW  and  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 


June  1922 


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CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN 
LOS  ANGELES 


By 

FRANKLIN  EOBBITT 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


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SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATIONAL  MONOGRAPHS 

Published  in  conjunction  with 
THE  SCHOOL  REVIEW  and  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 

No.  20  June  1922 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN 
LOS  ANGELES 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN 
LOS  ANGELES 


By 
FRANKLIN  BOBBITT 


THE  UNIVEEISITY  OF  CHICAGO 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


3355  ■ 


frtytfOi  Wl^'fl 


Copyright  1922  By 
Franklin  Bobbitt 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  June  1922 


(//TK 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Organizing  for  Curriculum-Making i 

11.  Educational  Objectives 5 

III.  The  Composition  of  an  Ability 33 

IV.  The  Work  of  the  Several  Departments 37 

V.  Literature  and  General  Reading 45 

VI.  Social  Studies 50 

VII.  Mathematics 62 

VIII.  Biological  Science     .     .     .     .  ' 67 

IX.  Physical  Science 70 

X.  Physical  Development  and  Maintenance 74 

XL  Home  Occupations 79 

XIL  Practical  Arts  FOR  Boys      . 83 

XIII.  Visual  Art 86 

XIV.  Music : 89 

XV.  English  Expression 92 

XVI.  Modern  Languages 95 

XVII.  Latin 99 

Index 105 


752824 


CHAPTER  I 
ORGANIZING  FOR  CURRICULUM-MAKING 

The  practical  school  man  wants  to  know  how  to  draw  up  courses 
of  study  which  look  in  the  direction  of  current  progress,  and  which 
he  can  have  ready  for  next  year's  work.  He  knows  the  value  ef  s';ientift<i 
method  in  curriculum-making;  but  he  further  knows  that  the. necessary 
science  is  not  likely  to  be  sufficiently  developed  in"  this  gener^-tien., 
He  wants  to  use  that  nearest  approximation  to  science  which  is  available 
for  his  practical  purposes. 

The  work  which  is  now  going  on  in  Los  Angeles  in  the  re-examination 
of  current  courses  of  study  in  junior  and  senior  high  schools  presents  a 
method  of  procedure.  It  is  one  which  takes  full  account  of  the  practical 
situation  as  it  is.  It  attempts  only  to  find  the  next  possible  and  desirable 
steps  of  progress;  to  take  those  and  to  go  no  farther  until  conditions 
are  ripe  for  going  farther.  Yet  at  the  same  time,  the  method  looks  to 
the  fundamentals  of  the  curriculum.  It  plows  as  deeply  in  preparation 
for  the  work  as  if  it  intended  a  rather  complete  reformulation  of  the 
curriculum  without  regard  to  the  present  situation.  The  major  problem 
was  thus  how  to  provide  for  only  the  immediate  ''next  steps  of  progress, " 
and  yet  do  it  all  on  the  basis  of  fundamentals.  Experience  with  the 
method  has  proceeded  far  enough  to  demonstrate  its  value. 

The  purpose  of  this  monograph  is  to  present  the  method  for  two 
purposes:  (i)  for  securing  discussion  of  the  method  by  way  of  improving 
it;  (2)  to  make  a  contribution  to  the  formulation  of  a  technique  of 
practical  curriculum  re-examination  and  reformulation  which  can  be 
employed  to  supplant  the  admittedly  primitive  method  frequently 
employed. 

The  initiative  for  the  work  naturally  originated  with  the  city  superin- 
tendent of  schools.  General  direction  has  been  provided  by  the  two 
assistant  superintendents  of  schools  in  charge  of  junior  high  schools 
and  senior  high  schools.  Leadership  in  the  detailed  labors  has  been 
intrusted  to  the  Department  of  Educational  Research  and  to  a  series 
of  committees  composed  of  high-school  principals,  heads  of  departments, 
and  teachers.  There  is  one  committee  for  each  high-school  department, 
composed  of  twenty-five  members,  or  one  representative  from  each  junior 
and  senior  high  school.     The  total  committee  membership  therefore  is 


2  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

in  the  neighborhood  of  three  hundred.  This  plan  provides  for  a  subject- 
leader  for  each  subject  in  each  high  school.  This  has  made  it  possible 
to  enhst  the  entire  corps  of  junior  and  senior  high-school  teachers  and 
thus  to  draw  upon  all  the  professional  experience  and  judgment  anywhere 
available  within  the  organization. 

The  plan  was  not  designed  on  the  basis  of  any  doctrinaire  theory 
of  democracy  relative  to  giving  every  teacher  a  voice  in  the  work. 
Incidentally,  it  does  give  every  teacher  a  voice.  This,  however,  was 
not  to  confer  a  right,  but  to  take  advantage  of  every  available  particle 
of  professional  experience,  thought,  judgment,  and  labor  which  promised 
%  assistance  in  the  performance  of  a  task  of  colossal  proportions  and 
endiess  complexity. 

Naturally,  among  twelve  hundred  teachers,  not  all  of  them  were 
responsive.  As  with  teachers  everywhere,  some  were  too  busy  to  do 
anything  more  than  their  customary  daily  tasks;  some  were  indifferent; 
some,  skeptical  of  the  practical  possibihties;  a  few  were  hostile  to  the 
whole  movement  on  the  ground  that  their  course  of  study  was  not  in 
need  of  any  re-examination  or  alteration. 

The  great  majority  of  teachers,  heads  of  departments,  and  principals 
welcomed  the  opportunity  and  the  responsibihty;  and  they  have  done 
all  that  could  be  reasonably  expected  with  so  Uttle  undistributed  time 
at  their  disposal.  Some  of  the  teachers  have  given  to  the  work  a  pro- 
digious amount  of  thought  and  effort. 

It  is  the  constructive  active  members  of  the  organization  who  are 
doing  the  work.  When  it  is  finished,  the  others  will  swing  into  line. 
In  the  meantime  they  serve  as  a  more  or  less  necessary  restraining 
influence  in  preventing  hasty  and  unconsidered  progress.  They  "  demand 
to  be  shown"  and  thus  help  to  keep  alive  in  the  active  workers  conscious- 
ness of  the  need  of  careful  study  of  every  step.  The  negative  ones 
thus  help  to  intensify  and  deepen  the  consideration  and  study  of  every 
proposed  step  before  decision  is  made. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  a  constructive  majority  and  a  restraining 
minority,  the  situation  appears  to  be  well  balanced.  There  is  such  a 
broad  ground  of  common  understanding  on  the  part  of  all  concerned, 
and  such  professional  restraint  and  tolerance  in  discussion,  that  in  the 
three  months  during  which  the  writer  worked  actively  with  the  many 
groups  and  departments  there  was  not  observed  any  instance  of  contro- 
versy that  exhibited  any  unkindly  feeling. 

The  labors  began  in  the  latter  part  of  the  autumn  of  192 1  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  several  committees,  and  in  the  formulation  of  a  ten- 


ORGANIZING  FOR  CURRICULUM-MAKING  3 

tative  program  by  the  Department  of  Educational  Research.  The  present 
writer  was  then  employed  for  three  months  to  assist  in  formulating 
plans  and  materials,  and  in  getting  the  work  under  way.  During  the 
months  of  January,  February,  and  March  the  plans  and  materials 
here  presented  were  formulated  and  given  over  to  the  committees  and 
teachers.  The  work  continues  through  the  spring  months  with  the 
expectation  that  a  tentative  formulation  of  the  curriculum  will  be  made 
by  the  end  of  the  current  term  for  guidance  in  organizing  work  for  the 
ensuing  year.  The  labors,  however,  it  is  expected,  will  continue  through 
all  the  year,  1922-23,  before  the  present  series  of  tasks  can  be  considered 
completed.  In  presenting  the  matter  thus  early  to  the  profession,  it 
is  in  part  with  the  thought  that  professional  suggestions  from  outside 
be  made  which  can  be  of  large  profit  to  the  committees  and  teachers 
in  their  work  during  the  coming  year. 

Note. — The  work  done  by  the  writer  would  have  been  impossible  without 
the  cordial  and  active  co-operation  of  all  concerned.  It  is  difficult  to  single 
out  any  special  group  for  special  mention  since  superintendent,  assistant 
superintendents,  division  of  research,  principals,  department  heads,  and 
teachers  were  aU  links  in  a  chain  in  which  each  was  indispensable.  And  each 
level  was  generous  in  effort  and  co-operation.  In  spite  of  numerous  and 
pressing  administrative  duties,  Mrs.  Susan.  M.  Dorsey,  superintendent  of 
schools,  kept  in  constant  contact  with  the  work,  and  provided  the  general 
direction  and  leadership  necessary  for  right  attitudes  and  effort  throughout 
the  organization.  The  assistant  superintendents  in  charge  of  high  schools, 
Mr.  Arthur  Gould,  and  Miss  Helen  Watson,  were  continuously  active  in  provid- 
ing the  more  specialized  leadership.  The  Bureau  of  Educational  Research, 
under  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Sutherland,  performed  a  prodigious  amount  of  the 
detailed  labors  involved.  I  wish  here  to  record  special  mention  of  the  assistance 
of  Mr.  Arleigh  C.  Griffin,  Director  of  High  School  Research,  who  cared  for 
schedules,  meeting-places,  notices,  printing  and  distribution  of  materials,  as 
well  as  for  professional  leadership  at  the  time  and  as  the  work  continues. 
I  wish  I  might  also  here  name  the  principals  and  teachers  whose  activity 
provided  an  unexpected  amount  of  encouragement  and  assistance;  they  were 
so  numerous  that  the  list  would  unduly  extend  this  statement.  We  cannot 
refrain,  however,  from  an  expression  of  appreciation  of  the  furtherance  given 
the  work  by  the  president  of  the  principals'  group,  the  dean  of  the  faculties, 
Principal  W.  H.  Housh. 


CHAPTER  II 

EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES 

Education  aims  to  produce  results.  These  results  are  human 
,f  abilities,  habits,  attitudes,  appreciations,  skills,  powers  of  judgment, 
r!  personal  characteristics  of  various  kinds,  etc.  The  first  practical  task 
of  curriculum-making  is  to  draw  up  for  working  purposes  a  list  of  the 
several  kinds  of  specific  abilities  and  other  human  characteristics  which 
are  to  be  the  results  of  education.  Every  item  in  a  curriculum  is  but  a 
means  to  an  end;  it  is  necessary  first,  therefore,  to  know  what  these 
various  ends  are. 

Education  has  always  aimed  at  objectives.  These  have  usually 
been  memories  well  stocked  with  examinable  textbook  information, 
and  ability  to  deal  with  conventional  textbook  materials  in  well-known 
classroom  ways.  The  academic  objectives  have  rarely  been  the  abilities 
which  should  currently  function  in  everyday  life.  Rarely  has  education 
f  looked  to  the  life  of  the  community  by  way  of  discovering  its  specific 
'^  objectives. 

The  Los  Angeles  labors  assumed  that  textbook  information  is  a 

i    means,  not  an  end;  that  it  is  not  a  thing  merely  to  be  memorized  without 
looking  beyond;  but  that  it  must  look  forward  to  abiUties  and  personal 
'     quaUties  actually  needed  by  the  men  and  women  of  the  city. 

We,  therefore,  first  undertook  the  task  of  drawing  up  a  comprehensive 
list  of  human  abilities  and  characteristics  which  appear  to  be  generally 
needed  by  the  citizens  of  Los  Angeles.  It  was  not  supposed  that  the 
schools  would  systematically  attempt  to  develop  each  of  the  many 
characteristics  and  abilities.  It  was  obvious  that  many  of  them  are 
of  such  a  simple  nature  that  they  can  be  developed  by  observing  and  par- 
ticipating in  the  general  community  life.  The  presumption,  however,  was 
that  if  we  had  a  complete  series  of  the  generally  needed  abilities  and  char- 
acteristics, from  this  comprehensive  list  we  could  select  those  which  were 
so  complex  and  difficult  as  to  require  the  labors  of  the  educational 
profession.  This  portion  of  the  total  Hst  would  comprise  the  objectives 
of  education.  The  mode  of  procedure  in  preparing  a  list  of  objectives 
was  as  follows : 

I.  The  writer  placed  before  the  organization  a  suggestive  list  of 
abilities  and  characteristics  which  had  been  drawn  up  co'-bpefatively  in 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  5 

his  classes  of  graduate  students  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  numbering 
several  hundred  in  the  aggregate,  most  of  whom  were  high-school 
teachers,  elementary-  and  high-school  principals  and  supervisors, 
superintendents,  and  normal-school  and  college  instructors.  This  list 
of  abilities  was,  therefore,  a  carefully  winnowed  and  organized  list 
which  had  resulted  from  several  years  of  actual  labors.  It  would  have 
required  the  teachers  in  Los  Angeles  a  long  time  to  work  out  from  the 
beginning  so  finished  a  list. 

While  we  refer  to  it  as  being  relatively  finished,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
it  must  be  remembered  that  it  represented  but  the  empirical  judgments 
of  several  hundred  professional  men  and  women;  it  did  not  represent 
the  fruits  of  any  scientific  studies  in  the  field  of  education.  It  is  a 
pioneer  formulation  which  is  yet  upon  the  level  of  hypothesis.  For  the 
reason  just  given,  there  was  no  thought  of  imposing  this  Hst  upon  the 
Los  Angeles  situation  as  a  thing  prescribed.  There  was  also  the  further 
reason  that  in  many  respects  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  is  differently 
situated  and  has  different  problems  from  those  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
from  which  most  of  the  graduate  workers  had  come  who  were  concerned 
in  formulating  this  original  list. 

For  the  teachers  of  Los  Angeles,  therefore,  the  list  was  intended  to 
be  an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  thing  they  needed;  to  show  the  kind  of 
details  of  which  such  a  list  should  be  made  up;  to  save  labor  on  their 
part  by  suggesting  a  large  number  of  things  which  it  was  obvious  they 
would  themselves  suggest. 

11.  The  second  step  was  for  the  twelve  hundred  high-school  teachers 
in  Los  Angeles  to  formulate  a  list  of  the  human  abilities  and  character- 
istics which  in  their  judgment  were  advisable  or  desirable  for  the  men 
and  women  of  that  city — irrespective  of  whether  the  schools  were  to 
adopt  them  as  their  objectives  or  not.  The  method  of  accomphshing 
this  task  is  indicated  by  the  following  questions  which  relates  to  the  long 
series  of  abilities  and  characteristics  which  was  at  the  time  placed  in 
their  hands. 
To  citizens,  school  officials,  and  teachers  of  Los  Angeles: 

1.  Which  of  the  following  human  characteristics  and  abilities  appear  to 
be  generally  desirable,  and  therefore  legitimate  objectives  of  education  ? 

2.  Which  ones  are  frequently,  but  not  generally,  desirable  ? 

3.  Which  ones  are  probably  undesirable,  and  therefore  not  legitimate 
objectives  of  education  ? 

4.  Which  ones  are  at  least  questionable  ? 

5.  Which  ones  should  be  amended  in  statement?  What  amendment 
would  you  suggest  ? 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 


t 


6.  What  additional  abilities  and  characteristics,  not  here  suggested,  are  also 
desirable,  which  should  be  added  to  the  lists  by  way  of  completing  them  ?  It  is  for 
completing  an  acceptable  series  of  lists  that  we  are  particularly  anxious  to 
receive  suggestions. 

7.  Which  of  the  following  statements  of  ability  are  not  clear  in  meaning  ? 
In  replying  to  any  of  these  questions,  except  the  sixth,  the  abilities  can 

be  referred  to  by  number. 

The  questions  were  designed  to  discover  the  abilities  already 
assembled  which  the  majority  could  approve  for  the  entire  population; 
those  which  they  could  approve  for  a  portion  of  the  population;  those 
which  they  would  cast  out  as  undesirable  or  illegitimate;  those  which 
should  be  carefully  studied  because  of  their  questionable  nature;  those 
which  should  be  amended  in  content  or  mode  of  statement;  and  finally, 
they  were  asked  to  suggest  any  ability  or  characteristic  desirable  in  the 
men  and  women  of  the  city  which  was  not  included  in  the  list.  This 
gave  them  for  formulating  the  desirable  abilities  and  characteristics  a 
plan  which  provided  absolute  freedom  to  formulate  whatever  list  they 
would,  and  to  do  it  with  the  greatest  possible  economy  of  labor. 

The  'original  list  of  abilities  and  characteristics  exactly  as  sent  out 
to  the  schools  is  not  here  reproduced.  Instead,  we  present  in  this  chapter 
the  slightly  revised  and  extended  list  which  resulted  from  our  several 
labors.  Practically  all  of  the  items  of  the  original  list  were  approved. 
A  few  were  eliminated  because  of  duplication.  In  a  few  cases  two  or 
three  were  combined  into  a  single  one  for  the  sake  of  simplicity  of 
statement.  The  list  was  found  already  so  complete  that  relatively 
few  additional  ones  were  suggested  and  most  of  these  were  really  already 
included  by  implication  in  the  list.     About  twenty  additions  were  made. 

It  might  be  urged  that  the  list  of  abilities  and  other  personal  qualities 
should  result  from  a  careful  scientific  analysis  of  community  needs  by 
trained  investigators.  Doubtless  this  is  the  case.  But  where  are  the 
trained  investigators  who  possess  the  technique,  and  who  are  otherwise 
prepared  to  do  the  work  ?  They  do  not  yet  exist.  Of  course,  there  is 
any  number  of  persons  who  could  take  the  lists  of  abilities  here  presented, 
or  others  similarly  drawn,  and  go  to  the  society  and  gather  facts  by  way 
of  proving  them.  We  should  discover  what  we  already  know.  Take, 
for  example,  the  ability  to  read.  So  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  there 
has  never  been  any  scientific  investigation  which  proves  that  this  is  a 
needed  ability.  When  the  proofs  are  about  us  on  every  hand,  so  con- 
vincing and  so  incontestable,  it  is  a  work  of  supererogation  to  take  the 
trouble  to  prove  it.     Of  course  we  could  send  out  scientific  investigators 

y' 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  7 

to  assemble  the  proofs.  But  it  is  needless.  The  common  judgment  | 
of  men,  where  opinion  is  so  undivided,  is  a  sufficient  basis  for  practical  | 
action  until  the  contrary  is  proved. 

In  the  same  way,  most  of  the  fundamental  abilities  included  in  our 
lists — we  do  not  here  refer  to  the  minor  ones — represent  the  common 
judgment  of  thoughtful  men  and  women.  Science  is  needed  in  some  cases 
for  making  them  quantitatively  exact;  but  not  often  for  proving  their 
need. 

There  is  another  reason  for  not  awaiting  the  results  of  scientific 
research.  The  schools  are  now  in  operation.  The  objectives  are  needed 
at  once.  Every  subsequent  step  in  curriculum-making  is  dependent 
upon  them.  The  best  practicable  method  that  will  provide  them 
immediately  should  be  employed.  The  practical  man  values  science 
for  guidance;  but  where  it  does  not  exist,  he  must  get  on  with  the  best 
substitute  available.  In  the  absence  of  science,  the  best  hypothesis 
that  can  be  formulated  provides  the  safest  guidance. 

THE   ABILITIES   AND   CHARACTERISTICS 

Man's  activities  lie  in  many  fields.     Different  modes  of  classification 
are  possible.     It  seems  best,  however,  to  employ  as  nearly  as  practicable,     \ 
the  conamon  classifications  of  everyday  life.    It  is  beHeved  that  the         \ 
following  ten  classes  cover  the  field: 

I.  Social  Intercommunication,  mainly  language 

II.  The  Development  and  Maintenance  of  One's  Physical  Powers 

III.  Unspecialized  Practical  Labors 

IV.  The  Labors  of  One's  Calling 

V.  The  Activities  of  the  Efficient  Citizen  '^ 

VI.  Activities  Involved  in  One's  General  Social  Relationships  and 
Behavior 

VII.  Leisure  Occupations,  Recreations,  Amusements 

VIII.  Development  and  Maintenance  of  One's  Mental  Efficiency 

IX.  Religious  Activities 

X.  Parental  Activities,  the  Upbringing  of  Children,  the  Maintenance 
of  the  Home  Life 

There  are  probably  few  desirable  human  activities  which  will  not 
fall  within  one  or  another  of  these  several  categories.  The  activities 
then  point  to  ten  classes  of  abilities  which  men  need.  Under  these 
ten  headings,  therefore,  we  have  grouped  in  the  following  ten  fists  the 
abilities  and  characteristics  sanctioned  by  the  teachers  of  Los  Angeles 
as  desirable  for  the  men  and  women  of  the  city.     It  must  be  noted, 


8  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

however,  that  in  some  cases  the  abihties  are  considered  desirable  for 
the  entire  population;  in  other  cases  they  are  considered  desirable  for 
only  a  portion  of  the  population.  Some  of  the  things  are  needed  by 
certain  social  or  ability  classes  and  not  by  other  classes.  Some  of  the 
things  are  appropriate  for  men,  and  some  of  the  things  for  women, 
although  the  great  majority  of  them  are  desirable  for  both.  Ultimately 
it  will  be  desirable  to  draw  up  a  separate  list  for  each  of  these  population 
groups.  For  the  immediate  labors  this  general  list  sufficiently  serves 
the  purpose. 

I.      SOCIAL  INTERCOMMUNICATION 

1.  Ability  to  read  with  proper  ease,  speed,  and  comprehension. 

2.  Ability  to  pronounce  one's  words  properly. 

3.  Ability  to  write  with  proper  legibility,  ease,  and  speed. 

4.  Ability  to  spell  the  words  of  one's  writing  vocabulary. 

5.  Command  over  an  adequate  reading,  speaking  and  writing  vocabulary. 

6.  Ability  to  use  English  which  is  grammatically  correct. 

7.  Ability  to  organize  and  express  one's  thought  effectively. 

8.  Ability  through  language  effectively  to  reconstruct  or  reproduce  one's 
experiences  and  pass  them  on  to  others. 

9.  Ability  to  write  a  letter  appropriate  to  any  usual  situation. 

10.  Ability  to  use  good  form,  order,  and  arrangement  in  all  of  one's 
written  work:  margins,  spacing,  alignment,  paragraphing,  capitalization, 
punctuation,  syllabification,  abbreviations,  etc. 

11.  Ability  to  use  a  dictionary. 

12.  Ability  to  gain  information  readily  and  easily  from  the  oral  presenta- 
tion of  others. 

13.  Ability  to  converse  easily,  agreeably,  and  effectively. 

14.  Ability  to  present  one's  thought  oraUy  to  an  audience. 

15.  Ability  to  present  written  or  printed  thought  effectively  through 
oral  reading. 

16.  Ability  in  speech  to  use  the  voice  in  ways  both  agreeable  and  effective. 

17.  Ability  to  get  the  essential  thought  of  books  or  articles  quickly  with 
a  minimum  amount  of  reading. 

18.  Ability  to  prepare  an  outline,  brief,  or  summary  of  a  lecture,  article, 
chapter,  or  book. 

19.  Ability  to  locate  in  a  library  the  material  on  any  topic. 

20.  Ability  to  understand  and  follow  directions. 

21.  Ability  to  give  directions  clearly. 

22.  Abihty  to  read  a  foreign  language. 

23.  Ability  to  understand  a  foreign  language  when  spoken. 

24.  Ability  to  speak  and  write  a  foreign  language. 

25.  Ability  to  read  and  interpret  facts  expressed  by  commonly  used 
types  of  graphs,  diagrams,  and  statistical  tables. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  9 

26.  Ability  to  express  facts  by  means  of  graphs,  diagrams,  and  statistical 
tables. 

27.  Ability  to  read  maps. 

28.  Ability  to  read  drawings  which  present  visually  the  plans  or  designs 
of  things. 

29.  Ability  to  draw  plans  for  expressing  visually  one's  thought. 

30.  Ability  to  operate  a  typewriter  with  the  speed  and  accuracy  demanded 
by  one's  needs. 

II.      PHYSICAL  EFFICIENCY 

loi.  Soundness  of  physique:  freedom  from  structural  or  functional 
defect  or  deficiency.  Soundness  of  every  tissue,  organ,  and  system  of  organs. 
[Naturally  within  limits  set  by  one's  natural  endowment.] 

102.  A  balanced  or  well-proportioned  development  of  the  physique. 
[Within  Kmits  set  by  heredity.] 

103.  A  continually  maintained  reservoir  of  vital  energy  as  abundant  as 
one's  hereditary  potentialities  will  permit. 

104.  Physical  strength  and  endurance  sufficient  for  all  of  one's  necessary 
or  desirable  activities,  within  limits  of  normality  fixed  in  heredity. 

105.  Physical  resihency  and  adaptability. 

106.  Ability  to  make  one's  food  contribute  in  maximum  measure  to  one's 
physical  well-being. 

107.  Ability  to  keep  the  body  mechanism  properly  oxygenated. 

108.  Ability  to  utilize  muscular  exercise  as  a  lifelong  means  of  developing 
and  maintaining  a  high  level  of  physical  vitality. 

109.  Ability  and  disposition  throughout  life  to  engage  with  pleasure  and 
profit  in  a  varied  repertory  of  games,  sports,  athletics,  dances,  out-door  recrea- 
tions, etc.,  such  as  swimming,  skating,  hiking,  rowing,  riding,  tennis,  golf, 
ball  games  of  various  kinds,  running  games,  dancing,  folk  dancing,  fishing, 
hunting,  canoeing,  motoring,  camping,  athletic  events,  etc. 

no.  Ability  to  engage  in  a  variety  of  unspecialized  productive  labors 
which  contribute  diverse  and  needed  elements  to  one's  repertory  of  physical 
experiences. 

111.  Ability  to  employ  setting-up  exercises  for  corrective  or  emergency 
purposes  when  nothing  better  is  available. 

112.  Ability  to  carry  one's  self,  to  move  and  act  with  ease,  grace,  and 
precision. 

113.  Ability  to  make  one's  various  mental  and  emotional  states  and 
activities  contribute  in  maximum  degree  to  one's  physical  well-being. 

114.  Ability  to  make  one's  sleep  contribute  in  a  maximum  measure  to  the 
development  and  maintenance  of  a  high  level  of  physical  vitahty. 

115.  Ability  to  relax  physically  and  mentally  at  proper  times  and  in 
proper  ways. 


lO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

ii6.  Ability  to  protect  one's  self  from  micro-organisms;  and  to  deal 
with  them  and  their  products  effectively  in  case  of  attack. 

117.  Ability  to  take  proper  precautions  against  spread  of  disease  in  cases 
of  illness  in  the  household. 

118.  Ability  rightly  to  control  the  factors  involved  in  the  maintenance  of 
body  temperatures. 

119.  Ability  to  dress  in  ways  that  promote  the  physical  well-being  in 
maximum  degree. 

120.  Ability  to  maintain  personal  cleanliness. 

121.  Ability  to  provide  the  most  favorable  conditions  for  the  elimination 
from  the  tissues,  organs,  and  body  in  general  of  all  harmful  or  needless  sub- 
stances and  agents. 

122.  Ability  to  control  one's  relations  to  sunlight  so  as  to  secure  maximum 
benefits  therefrom. 

123.  Ability  to  maintain  postures  conducive  to  the  best  physical 
fimctioning. 

124.  Ability  to  secure  that  variety  or  diversity  of  physical  experiences 
necessary  for  maximum  well-being. 

125.  Abihty  to  maintain  that  proper  balance  between  excessive  regularity 
and  excessive  irregularity  which  is  necessary  for  maximum  physical  well-being. 

126.  AbiHty  to  work  hard  for  long  periods  and  still  keep  physically  fit. 

127.  Ability  to  draw  up  an  individual  program  of  work,  play,  rest,  sleep, 
meals,  etc.,  best  suited  to  one's  physical  nature  and  capacity;  and  currently 
to  keep  it  adapted  to  the  ever-changing  conditions  of  one's  situation. 

128.  AbiHty  to  develop  and  maintain,  as  well  as  conditions  permit,  the 
beauty  of  the  physique. 

129.  Ability  to  protect  one's  self  from  preventable  accidents. 

130.  Ability  to  deal  with  conditions  produced  by  many  kinds  of  common 
accidents. 

131.  Ability  to  protect  from  dust,  smoke,  noxious  gases,  etc. 

132.  Ability  to  care  for  the  teeth. 

133.  Ability  to  care  for  the  eyes. 

134.  Ability  to  care  for  nose,  ear,  and  throat. 

135.  Ability  to  avoid  or  to  prevent  the  conditions  which  bring  on  or 
sustain  colds. 

136.  Ability  to  keep  the  heart  and  blood  vessels  in  normal  working  con- 
dition. 

137.  AbiHty  to  care  for  the  skin. 

138.  AbiHty  to  care  for  the  hair  and  scalp. 

139.  AbiHty  to  care  for  the  nails. 

140.  Ability  to  care  properly  for  the  feet. 

141.  Ability  to  control  sex-functions  in  the  interests  of  physical  and  social 
weU-being. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  il 

142.  The  ability  to  keep  reasonably  well  informed,  in  the  degree  to  be 
expected  of  a  layman,  as  to  the  discoveries  of  science  in  the  fields  of  health 
conservation  and  promotion. 

143.  Abihty  alone  or  in  co-operation  with  medical  specialists  to  deal 
effectively  with  many  kinds  of  disorders. 

144.  Ability  to  care  for  the  sick — so  far  as  layman  should  have  this  abihty, 

145.  Ability  to  take  the  protective  precautionary,  or  remedial  steps 
necessary  to  protect  one's  self  or  family  from  a  considerable  number  of  common 
ailments. 

146.  Ability  to  recognize  the  symptoms  of  common  ailments  in  their 
incipient  stages. 

147.  Ability  wisely  to  utilize  the  services  of  speciaHsts  in  health  and 
physical  upbuilding  and  maintenance. 

148.  Ability  within  one's  occupational  field  to  co-operate  effectively  in 
providing  wholesome  working  conditions. 

149.  Ability  to  perform  one's  civic  functions  in  co-operating  with  and  in 
the  social  support  and  control  of  all  public  agencies  engaged  in  promoting 
the  general  physical  welfare. 

III.      UNSPECIALIZED  PRACTICAL  LABORS 

Much  of  the  work  of  the  world  is  unspecialized.  Most  of  it  is  done 
by  members  of  the  family  upon  the  home  premises;  some  of  it  at  other 
places  in  the  community. 

The  unspecialized  labors  are  of  very  diverse  type.  For  any  indi- 
vidual, they  will  vary  according  to  his  situation.  Some  of  them  are  more 
appropriate  for  men;  others  for  women;  some  for  both  men  and  women. 

The  following  composite  list  presents  examples  of  many  kinds. 
It  ought  to  be  further  extended.  From  the  list  there  can  be  selected 
the  objectives  appropriate  to  any  given  individual.  For  each  individual 
there  should  really  be  his  individual  curriculum  according  to  circum- 
stances and  choices. 

Some  of  these  abilities  are  so  simple  that  they  can  be  developed 
without  school  training.     For  others,  systematic  training  is  indispensable. 

ToolSj  Materials,  Processes,  etc. 

200.  Sharpening,  adjusting,  and  otherwise  keeping  household  and  garden 
tools  in  good  working  condition. 

201.  The  cleaning,  lubricating,  and  replacing  worn  or  broken  parts  in 
lamps,  bicycles,  typewriters,  stoves,  automobiles,  percolators,  locks,  wagons, 
cream  separators,  windmills,  sewing  machines,  guns,  door-bells,  lawn  mowers, 
harness,  ofttimes  involving  disassembling  and  reassembling. 


12  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

202.  Ability  to  use  all  common  kinds  of  measuring  devices:  measures 
of  length,  area,  volimie,  capacity,  weight,  temperature,  time,  etc. 

203.  Ability  to  do  simple  carpentry;   especially  in  making  simple  repairs 
about  the  premises. 

204.  Doing  simple  painting,  varnishing,  whitewashing,   calcimining,  etc., 
about  the  premises. 

205.  Removing  old  varnish  or  paint;   smoothing,  cleaning,  and  otherwise 
preparing  surfaces  for  varnishing,  painting,  etc. 

206.  Care  of  paints,   varnishes,   brushes,   oils,   etc.,    so   as   to   prevent 
deterioration. 

207.  Simple  work  in  cement  construction. 

208.  Simple  soldering. 

209.  Gluing. 

210.  Care  and  repair  of  rubber  goods. 

211.  Keeping  in  proper  order  and  operating  a  gas  engine. 

212.  Ability  to  make  the  more  common  kinds  of  knots. 

213.  Lettering,  for  signs,  placards,  charts,  etc. 

House,  Equipment,  Management 

220.  Putting  up  shelving  or  extra  hooks,  etc.,  in  the  clothes  closet. 

221.  Window    screens:     making,    mending,    cleaning,    painting,    fitting, 
placing,  storing,  etc. 

222.  Adjusting  window  stops  to  prevent  rattling. 

223.  Replacing  broken  window  panes. 

224.  The  making  of  window  boxes. 

225.  Rehanging  the  window  weights  where  cords  are  broken. 

226.  Adjusting  doors  so  as  to  make  them  fit  and  hang  properly. 

227.  Putting  up  window  shades. 

228.  Putting  up  fixtures  for  curtains  and  hangings,  and  arranging  the 
latter. 

229.  Replacing  shades  on  rollers.    Adjusting  springs,  etc. 

230.  Repairing  leaks  in  roofs. 

231.  Tarring  roofs,  gutters,  etc. 

232.  Patching  broken  places  in  the  plastering. 

233.  Inclosing  a  sleeping-porch  with  protections  that  will  operate  easily 
and  effectively. 

234.  Fitting  up  rooms  in  basement  or  attic  for  gymnasium  or  boys'  club. 

235.  Papering  closets,  attic,  etc. 

236.  Putting  up  and  taking  down  awnings. 

237.  Inclosing  a  porch  with  screen. 

238.  Replacing  missing  or  worn  out  boards  in  porch  floors  or  steps. 

239.  Putting  on  door-bolts  and  chains,  special  locks,  etc. 

240.  Laying  carpets,  linoleum,  etc. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  13 

241.  Renewing  the  washers  or  other  worn  parts  in  the  water  faucets. 

242.  Proper  care  of  the  plumbing  fixtures  in  the  house. 

243.  Ability  to  operate  hot-water  heaters. 

244.  Drainage  of  sediment  from  hot-water  tank. 

245.  The  operation  of  furnace,  boiler,  stove,  or  whatever  means  is  employed 
for  supplying  the  original  heat  of  the  home. 

246.  Regulation  of  the  mechanism  of  proper  ventilation  of  the  house. 

247.  AU  activities  included  in  closing  up  a  home  for  a  period  of  absence 
as  for  a  vacation. 

248.  Protection  of  house  against  burglary. 

249.  The  making  of  simple  pieces  of  furniture. 

250.  The  making  of  lawn  swings  and  simple  porch  furniture. 

251.  The  mending  of  furniture. 

252.  The  making  of  a  fireless  cooker. 

253.  Re-caning  chair  bottoms. 

254.  The  making  and  mending  of  toys. 

255.  Readjusting  of  dresser  and  table  drawers,  etc.,  and  making  them 
properly  fit. 

256.  Making  pads  and  covers  for  porch  furniture. 

257.  Packing  household  goods  for  moving  to  another  house  or  locality. 

258.  Ability  to  fit  and  fill  picture  frames. 

259.  Ability  to  make  ordinary  kinds  of  curtains. 

260.  Making  rugs  from  left-over  materials. 

261.  The  care  of  an  oil  stove,  including  putting  in  new  wicks. 

262.  Renewing  gas  mantles,  burners,  etc. 

263.  Adjusting  the  gas  and  air  mixture  in  the  gas  range  and  regulating 
maximiun  height. 

264.  Keeping  clocks  wound  and  regulated  and  protected  from  dust  and 
gases. 

265.  The  care  of  musical  instruments:  piano,  phonograph,  etc. 

266.  Care  for  and  arranging  of  books  and  magazines  in  the  home. 

267.  Mending  books:  binding,  torn  pages,  etc. 

268.  Filing  clippings,  letters,  and  articles  worth  keeping. 

269.  The  making  of  beds  and  general  care  of  the  bed  linen,  covers, 
mattresses,  etc. 

270.  Building  a  fire  in  a  cook  stove,  heating  stove,  furnace,  or  out  of 
doors  on  a  camping  expedition. 

271.  AbiHty  to  judge  the  suitability  of  home  sites  of  different  types  and 
locations. 

272.  Ability  to  read  architectural  plans. 

273.  Ability  to  plan  a  house  in  its  general  arrangements. 

274.  Ability  to  choose  the  decorations  of  rooms,  wall  paper,  draperies, 
pictures,  rugs,  furniture,  etc.,  so  that  the  whole  will  comply  with  the  principles 
of  household  design. 


14  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

275.  Ability  to  select  furniture,  draperies,  floor-coverings,  decorations, 
etc.,  from  the  point  of  view  of  economy,  durability,  and  serviceability. 

276.  Ability  to  arrange  furniture  so  as  to  have  the  maximum  comfort 
and  convenience  and  the  most  pleasing  effect. 

277.  AbiHty  to  select  and  hang  pictures  so  that  they  contribute  the 
maximum  of  aesthetic  effect  in  the  furnishing  of  the  home. 

278.  Ability  to  plan  the  equipment  of  a  home  from  the  standpoint  of 
beauty,  durabihty,  and  use;  and  for  a  specified  sum. 

279.  Ability  to  select  household  linens. 

280.  Ability  to  select  adequate  kitchen  equipment. 

281.  Keeping  the  things  of  the  house  in  proper  order. 

282.  Preparing  fuel,  kindling,  etc.,  for  household  uses. 

283.  Ability  to  shut  off  the  city  water  in  the  house  and  to  drain  the  pipes 
whenever  necessary. 

Electrical  Appliances 

300.  Operation  and  care  of  the  electrical  lighting  system  of  the  house. 

301.  The  ability  to  cut  off  the  electric  current  from  the  house  by  means 
of  the  proper  switch.  ^ 

302.  Ability  to  renew  burnt-out  fuse  plugs  in  the  electric  wiring  system. 

303.  Ability  to  renew  worn-out  brushes  in  household  electric  motors, 

304.  Ability  to  join  wires  and  otherwise  repair  broken  electric  circuits. 

305.  Operation,  adjustment,  lubrication,  simple  repair,  etc.,  of  household 
electric  appliances:  Electric  iron,  washing  machine,  fan,  toaster,  heater, 
vacuimi  cleaner,  sewing  machine,  telephone,  etc. 

306.  The  care  of  electric  batteries. 

307.  Keeping  doorbells  in  proper  working  order. 

308.  Ability  to  connect  up  and  use  a  "reducer"  in  the  operation  of  special 
types  of  ornamental  lights,  toy-motors,  etc. 

309.  Ability  to  read  the  electric  meter. 

310.  Ability  to  locate  the  difficulty  when  any  portion  of  the  electric 
system  goes  wrong. 

311.  The  abiHty  to  operate  and  deal  with  the  various  electrical  appUances, 
wiring,  and  connections  without  danger  of  accident  or  shock. 

312.  AbiUty  to  insulate  electric  wires. 

Fire  Protection 

320.  AbiUty  to  operate  a  fire-extinguisher. 

321.  Ability  to  turn  in  a  fire  alarm. 

322.  Preventing  the  accumulation  of  waste  materials  in  which  fires  may 
easily  be  started. 

323.  Safeguarding  of  matches,  electric  wiring,  flues,  and  other  places 
where  fires  may  start. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  15 

324.  Special  care  of  gasoline,  kerosene,  gas,  and  other  easily  inflammable 
materials. 

325.  Care  and  proper  storing  of  coal  and  wood  to  prevent  fires. 

326.  Extermination  of  rats  and  mice. 

327.  Ability  to  make  instant  use  of  fire-escapes. 

328.  Careful  regulation  of  aU  heating,  lighting,  and  cooking  mechanisms 
at  night  or  during  absence,  in  view  of  safety. 

329.  Abihty  to  judge  the  carrying-capacity  of  household  wiring  in  relation 
to  overloading  and  fire  hazard. 

The  Premises,  Incltuiing  the  Garden,  etc. 

330.  Planting  and  care  of  lawn. 

331.  The  care  of  the  vegetable  garden:  preparing  the  soil,  planting, 
cultivating,  watering,  protecting  from  weeds,  insect  enemies,  fungi,  etc., 
harvesting,  storing,  etc. 

332.  The  planting  and  care  of  flowers,  trees,  shrubs,  ornamental  plants, 
etc. 

2,2,^^.  Ability  to  plan  landscape  effects  in  accordance  with  principles  of 
design. 

334.  Ability  to  arrange  ornamental  plants  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
of  decorative  design, 

335.  Planting  and  cultivation  of  fruit  trees,  vines,  small  fruits,  etc. 

336.  Transplanting  small  plants. 

337.  Spraying  of  trees,  shrubs,  garden  plants,  etc. 

338.  Making  trellises  for  vines,  grape  arbors,  etc. 

339.  The  irrigation. 

340.  Picking,  packing,  storing,  etc.,  of  fruits. 

341.  The  selection,  curing,  and  saving  of  garden  seeds. 

342.  Seed  testing. 

343.  Making  and  using  a  hotbed. 

344.  Making  and  caring  for  a  cold  frame. 

345.  Trimming  a  hedge. 

346.  Caring  for  potted  flowers  and  plants. 

347.  The  destruction  of  weeds  and  weed  seeds  on  property  for  which 
one  is  responsible. 

348.  The  care  of  insect-destroying  wild  birds. 

349.  Using  the  lawn  mower. 

350.  Care  and  repair  of  garden  hose. 

351.  Conservation  and  composting  of  leaves,  lawn  clippings,  etc. 

352.  Protection  of  one's  property  from  erosion. 

353.  The  building  of  fences  and  keeping  them  in  proper  order. 

354.  Making  and  hanging  a  gate. 

355.  Making  cement  fence  posts. 

356.  Construction  and  repair  of  walks  for  back  yard. 


1 6  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

357.  Setting  posts  for  clothes  lines,  fences,  etc. 

358.  The  disposal  of  rubbish  of  every  kind. 

359.  Ability  to  keep  that  portion  of  landscape  for  which  one  is  responsible 
attractive  to  the  eye. 

360.  Doing  one's  part  in  keeping  street,  alley,  road,  etc.,  clean  and  sanitary. 

361.  The  control  of  smoke  for  which  one  is  responsible. 

362.  The  elimination  of  breeding  places  of  flies,  mosquitoes,  and  vermin 
of  every  sort  upon  premises  for  which  one  is  responsible. 

363.  Doing  one's  share  in  the  ordinary  care  and  upkeep  of  roads,  public 
and  private. 

364.  Keeping  in  proper  order  and  operating  a  windmill.. 

365.  The  building  of  pens  and  inclosures  for  pets. 

366.  Making  tennis  courts  or  other  private  playgrounds,  and  keeping  them 
in'good  condition. 

367.  Cleaning  and  repairing  wells  and  cisterns. 

368.  Removal  of  debris  after  storm  from  sidewalks,  driveways,  gutters, 
etc.,  about  one's  premises.     Clearing  walks  of  snow  and  ice. 

369.  The  destruction  and  prevention  of  animal  parasites  that  prey  on 
plants. 

370.  Constructing  and  placing  home  play-ground  equipment. 

371.  Cutting  flowers,  and  arranging  for  decorative  purposes. 

Animals — Pets,  Live  Stock,  etc. 

370.  The  care  of  poultry. 

371.  The  care  of  an  incubator. 

372.  Care  of  hares  and  rabbits. 

373.  The  care  of  pets  of  various  kinds. 

374.  The  care  of  horses. 

375.  Care  and  milking  of  a  cow. 

376.  Care  of  sheep  or  goats. 

377.  The  care  of  pigs. 

378.  The  care  of  bees. 

Travel  and  Out-Door  Life 

380.  Ability  to  drive  a  motor  car. 

381.  Ability  to  care  for  a  motor  car:  lubrication,  making  adjustments, 
cleaning,  renewing  simple  accessible  worn  parts,  mending  and  changing 
tires,  etc. 

382.  Packing  a  trunk  for  traveling,  and  attending  to  the  transfer  ,and 
checking. 

383.  Keeping  trunks,  suit  cases  and  traveling  bags  in  good  repair. 

384.  The  interpretation  of  city,  railway,  and  motor  guides. 

385.  Finding  one's  way  about  a  strange  city. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  1 7 

386.  Amateur  photography. 

387.  Ability  to  row  a  boat. 

388.  The  operation  and  care  of  a  motor  boat. 

389.  Driving  a  team  of  horses. 

390.  Ability  to  perform  the  several  labors  involved  in  camping. 

391.  Hunting. 

392.  Fishing. 

393.  Protecting  fish  and  game,  except  as  they  are  used  in  permissible 
and  legitimate  ways. 

394.  Observing  traffic  regulations  and  all  rules  of  the  road. 

395.  Notification  of  authorities  of,  and   placing  warning  at  any  place 
made  dangerous,  by  storm,  accident,  etc. 

396.  Ability  and  disposition  to  aid  in  conservation  of  forests  and  any 
other  national  resources  with  which  one  comes  in  contact. 


Clothing 

400.  Ability  to  do  common  kinds  of  hand  sewing. 

401.  Ability  to  do  common  kinds  of  machine  sewing. 

402.  Ability  to  perform  various  fundamental  sewing  activities — ^basting, 
hemming,  tucking,  gathering,  putting  on  bindings,  making  button  holes, 
sewing  on  buttons,  hooks  and  eyes,  making  various  kinds  of  seams. 

403.  Ability  to  care  for,  adjust,  and  operate  in  all  desirable  ways  an 
improved  type  of  sewing  machine. 

404.  Ability  to  recognize  commonly  used  textile  materials. 

405.  Ability  to  judge  textile  materials  as  to  durability,  attractiveness, 
practical  economy,  etc. 

406.  Ability  to  employ  proper  standards  of  excellence  in  judging  certain 
staple  fabrics  as  serge,  outing  flannel,  nainsook,  broadcloth,  chambray,  ging- 
ham, etc. 

407.  Ability  to  make  garments  of  certain  kinds. 

408.  Ability  to  design  garments  that  accord  with  the  principles  of  design. 

409.  Ability  to  take  measurements. 

410.  Abihty  to  pad  a  lay  figure  to  measurements. 

411.  Abihty  to  test  materials  for  quahty  of  fiber  and  weave.    • 

412.  Abihty  to  test  material  for  fastness  of  color. 

413.  Abihty  to  select  embroideries  and  laces  with  a  view  to  their  durability 
when  being  washed. 

414.  Abihty  to  shrink  materials. 

415.  Abihty  to  use  commercial  patterns. 

416.  Abihty  to  sketch  garments  seen  in  order  to  reproduce  them. 

417.  Ability  to  read  a  picture  in  a  fashion  book. 

418.  Abihty  to  judge  of  appropriateness  of  fashion  design  to  material. 

419.  Abihty  to  calculate  amounts  of  material  needed. 


l8  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

420.  Ability  to  cut  and  match  material  having  a  nap;  also  stripes,  plaids, 
and  figures. 

421.  Ability  to  put  collar  on  garment,  to  hang  skirts,  to  put  in  sleeves, 
to  miter  corners,  to  put  a  belt  on  a  skirt,  to  put  on  braids  and  to  finish  a 
garment. 

422.  Ability  to  see  possibilities  of  remodeling  clothes. 

423.  Minor  alterations  of  readymade  garments.  Making  over  used  gar- 
ments. 

424.  The  miscellaneous  mending  of  garments. 

425.  Ability  to  renovate  old  and  faded  garments  by  dyeing. 

426.  Ability  to  trim  hats;   to  make  alterations  in  hats. 

427.  Abihty  to  make  a  hat  on  a  commercial  frame. 

428.  Ability  to  make  a  hat  frame. 

429.  Storage  of  clothes  during  the  summer  for  protection  from  moths. 

430.  Keeping  one's  personal  belongings  in  order  in  drawers  and  closets. 

431.  Crocheting,  knitting,  embroidering,  and  beading. 

432.  Ability  to  choose  and  wear  clothing  suitable  to  occasion,  weather, 
health. 

433.  Abihty  to  select  clothing  that  is  becoming  in  line,  construction, 
color,  and  texture,  and  within  one's  means. 

434.  Ability  to  select  appropriate  clothing  accessories. 

435.  Ability  to  select  shoes  that  are  satisfactory  from  the  standpoints 
of  hygiene,  appearance,  and  appropriateness  to  use. 

436.  Abihty  to  plan  a  clothing  budget  that  will  not  exceed  a  just  proportion 
of  the  total  necessary  expenditure. 

437.  Ability  to  plan  children's  wardrobe. 

Cooking,  etc. 

440.  Ability  to  plan  meals  of  the  maximum  amoimt  of  dietary  value, 
palatability,  and  ease  of  preparation. 

441.  Ability  to  prepare  a  meal  with  the  minimum  expenditure  of  time, 
energy,  and  materials. 

442.  Ability  to  plan  meals  for  a  family  of  varying  ages,  activities,  and 
conditions  of  health. 

443.  Abihty  to  plan  special  dietaries. 

444.  Abihty  to  enlarge  or  decrease  common  recipes  to  meet  family  needs. 

445.  The  systematic  filing  of  cooking  recipes. 

446.  Preparing  food  for  sick. 

447.  Preparing  and  packing  lunches. 

448.  Ability  to  choose  a  well-balanced  meal  in  a  public  eating  place. 

449.  Preservation  and  care  of  perishable  foods. 

450.  Ability  to  sterilize  foods. 

451.  Cleaning  and  dressing  fish,  game,  and  poultry  in  preparation  for 
cooking. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  19 

452.  Ability  to  use  leavening  agents;  physical,  chemical,  biological. 

453.  The  care  of  milk  following  the  milking. 

454.  Pasteurizing  milk. 

455.  Making  butter. 

456.  Making  cheese. 

457.  Ability  to  make  confections. 

458.  Drying  fruits. 

459.  The  canning  and  preserving  of  fruits  and  vegetables. 

460.  Making  and  bottling  fruit  juices. 

461.  Ability  to  buy  food  intelligently: 
a)  Foods  in  season. 

h)  Reliable  brands. 

c)  Cheaper  cuts  of  meat. 

d)  Best  for  money. 

e)  Proper  amounts,  considering  storage. 
/)  Proper  prices. 

462.  Ability  to  detect  adulterants. 

463.  Ability  to  regulate  a  gas  oven  and  secure  the  required  heat. 

464.  Ability  to  use  thermometer  in  food  preparation. 

465.  Ability  to  select  proper  utensils  for  preparation  of  food. 

466.  Ability  to  use  a  fireless  cooker. 

467.  Ability  to  serve  a  meal  with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  time  and 
energy. 

468.  Making  the  table  and  food  attractive. 

469.  Preparing  the  table  for  meals. 

470.  The  serving  of  meals,  including  the  removal  of  dishes. 

471.  Washing  dishes  and  cooking  utensils. 

472.  Putting  away  the  table  linen  and  keeping  it  in  proper  order. 

473.  Putting  away  dishes  and  cooking  utensils  and  keeping  them  in 
proper  order. 

474.  Proper  care  of  dish  cloths  and  towels. 

Cleaning^  Laundry,  etc. 

480.  The  washing  of  clothes,  including  wringing,  drying,  and  ironing. 

481.  Doing  delicate  laundering,  as  of  delicate  curtains,  dresses,  etc. 

482.  AbiHty  to  wash  gingham  and  other  colored  cotton  fabrics  with  a 
minimum  amount  of  injury  to  the  color. 

483.  Ability  to  wash  wool. 

484.  Abihty  to  use  an  electric  washing  machine,  to  keep  it  oiled,  to  renew 
parts  worn  out. 

485.  Ability  to  care  for  a  laundry  and  its  equipment  with  a  minimum 
expenditure  of  time  and  energy. 

486.  Cleaning  of  clothes  by  dry  cleaning  process. 

487.  Keeping  clothes  properly  brushed,  pressed,  etc. 


20  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

488.  Ability  to  block  hats  and  to  clean  straw  hats. 

489.  Keeping  one's  shoes  clean  and  in  proper  order. 

490.  Ability  to  prepare  material  for  dyeing  and  to  dye  material. 

491.  The  cleaning  of  the  house. 

492.  The  tasks  involved  in  preventing  the  house  becoming  unclean. 

493.  Pohshing  and  other  special  care  of  floors  and  furniture. 

494.  Cleaning  of  carpets  and  rugs. 

495.  Washing  windows. 

496.  Cleaning  wall  paper. 

497.  Keeping  the  dust  down  as  much  as  possible  while  cleaning. 

498.  The  care  of  cupboards  and  cabinets,  keeping  them  clean  and  neat. 

499.  Keeping  bath-tub  and  lavatory  clean. 

500.  Keeping  the  silver  and  other  metal  ware  properly  cleaned   and 
polished. 

501.  Proper  care  and  cleaning  of  cut  glass. 

502.  Removing  stains  from  clothing,  floors,  furniture,  etc. 

503.  Ability  to  take  out  stains,  grease,  ink  spots. 

504.  The  ability  to  choose  a  soap  or  other  cleansing  agent  which  is  best 
for  the  work  in  hand. 

505.  The  making  of  washing  fluids. 

506.  Ability  to  keep  aU  the  mechanical  appHances  of  the  home  clean 
and  in  good  working  condition. 

Sanitation 

510.  Keeping  the  air  of  the  home  clean,  pure,  and  of  proper  temperature. 

511.  Control  of  dust. 

512.  Sanitary  care  of  sinks,  toilets,  and  lavatories. 

513.  Extermination  and  prevention  of  house  flies,  cockroaches,  rats,  mice, 
and  bedbugs. 

514.  The  care  of  the  refrigerator  and  of  the  current  perishable  food  supply. 

515.  Keeping  the  basement  properly  cooled,  ventilated,  and  cleaned. 

516.  Protecting  drinking  water,  milk,  etc.,  from  possibility  of  contamina- 
tion. 

517.  Sanitary  care  of  the  garbage. 

518.  Utilizing  the  sanitary  properties  and  values  of  sunlight. 

519.  Proper  fmnigation  and  precaution  in  preventing  the  spread  of  conta- 
gious diseases. 

Fine  Arts 

520.  Amateur  ability  to  play  a  musical  instrument. 

521.  Amateur  ability  to  sing. 

522.  Amateur  ability  to  compose  music. 

523.  Amateur  ability  to  do  literary  production  of  different  kinds. 

524.  Amateur  abiHty  to  design,   shape,   decorate,  and   otherwise  finish 
pottery  or  other  works  of  ceramic  art. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  21 

525.  Ability  to  draw  or  paint. 

526.  Ability  to  take  part  in  dramatics,  theatricals,  pageants,  etc. 

527.  Amateur  ability  to  write  movie  scenarios. 

528.  Amateur  ability  to  design:    dress  design,  house  design,  landscape 
design,  advertising  design,  etc. 

Care  of  the  Person 

530.  Care  of  the  nails:  manicuring,  etc. 

531.  Care  of  the  hair:  arranging,  brushing,  shampooing,  etc. 

532.  Care  of  the  teeth. 
$$$.  Care  of  the  skin. 

534.  Simple  massaging,  etc^ 

535.  Shaving. 

536.  Keeping  razor  in  order. 

537.  Keeping  toilet  articles  in  order. 

Financial,  Commercial,  etc. 

540.  AbiHty  to  manage  properly  a  bank  checking  account. 

541.  Ability  to  manage  a  savings  bank  accoimt. 

542.  Thrift.     Disposition  and  ability  to  save  money. 

543.  Ability  wisely  to  invest  one's  savings. 

544.  Ability  to  avoid  the  pitfalls  of  investment. 

545.  Ability  to  procure  and  use  traveler's  checks,  letters  of  credit,  and 
similar  devices. 

546.  Sending  money  by  bank  draft. 

547.  Sending  money  by  money  order. 

548.  Sending  money  by  telegraph. 

549.  Stopping  payment  of  lost  checks. 

550.  Postal  registration  of  money  or  things  of  value  sent  through  the 
mails. 

551.  The  boxing,  crating,  or  otherwise  making  up  packages  for  parcel 
post  or  express. 

552.  Ability  wisely  to  lay  out  one's  income  so  as  to  secure  maximum 
values. 

553.  Budgeting  individual  and  family  expenditures  so  that  incomes  may 
be  expended  with  less  haphazardness  and  the  margin  of  saving  increased. 

554.  Keeping   accoimt   of   one's    individual    expenditures;     and   family 
expenditures. 

555.  Ordering  goods  by  mail. 

556.  Buying  in  quantities  and  keeping  necessary  materials  on  hand. 

557.  Ability  to  make  change  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  rapidity. 

558.  Abihty  wisely  to  protect  one's  self  and  family  by  means  of  insurance. 

559.  Ability  to  draw  up  or  to  fill  out  business  forms  in  conamon  use. 

560.  Drawing  up  simple  contracts. 


22  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

561.  Writing  a  receipt. 

562.  Drawing  up  a  lease. 

563.  Doing  the  marketing  for  the  household. 

564.  Ability  in  buying  to  judge  the  qualities  of  things;  and  the  probable 
justice  of  the  prices. 

565.  Marketing  of  garden  or  farm  produce. 

566.  Disposing  in  proper  ways  of  things  no  longer  useful:  outworn  clothing, 
furniture,  tools,  machines,  books,  newspapers  and  magazines,  bottles,  rags, 
old  iron,  and  wastes  of  every  kind. 

567.  Making  out  and  checking  up  laundry  slips. 

568.  Checking  up  monthly  biUs  in  connection  with  payment  of  same. 

569.  The  checking  up  of  the  correct  filling  pf  one's  coal  order  by  comparing 
with  capacity  of  the  bin. 

570.  Checking  household  purchases  for  accuracy  in  weight  and  measure. 

571.  Checking  up  the  reading  of  the  meters  for  gas,  electricity,  water, 
etc.,  in  connection  with  the  payment  of  the  bills. 

572.  Ability  to  evaluate  advertising. 

573.  AbiUty  to  do  one's  ordinary  buying  with  economy  of  time  and  effort. 

574.  Ability  to  sell  or  dispose  profitably  of  one's  automobile,  horse,  house, 
garden  produce,  or  other  products  of  the  home. 

575.  AbiUty  to  determine  the  probable  cost  of  operation  of  any  gas  or 
electric  appliance  in  the  home. 


IV.      OCCUPATIONAL  OBJECTIVES 

Each  specialized  occupation  requires  separate  analysis  by  way  of 
discovering  the  specific  tasks,  processes,  habits,  skills,  powers  of  thought 
and  judgment,  etc.,  that  are  involved. 

We  are  here  assembling  the  objectives  which  are  in  the  main  com- 
mon to  all  normal  individuals  regardless  of  the  specialized  occupations 
into  which  they  may  go. 

The  occupational  objectives  will  be  assembled  by  special  investigators 
and  committees  who  are  specially  informed  concerning  the  several 
occupations. 

In  considering  the  education  of  any  individual,  the  occupational 
training  must  be  considered  an  integral  portion  of  his  training.  But  his 
two  curriculums  of  general  training  and  of  vocational  training  must 
be  drawn  up  separately;  though  not  necessarily  ad  ninistered  separately. 

If  one  will  take  the  list  of  "Matters  Involved  in  Any  Specific 
Ability,"  as  presented  in  the  next  chapter  and  translate  those  matters 
into  the  terms  of  any  specialized  occupation,  he  will  have  a  general 
statement  of  the  objectives  for  that  particular  occupation. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  23 

V.      EFFICIENT  CITIZENSHIP 

There  is  little  agreement  as  to  what  the  ordinary  individual  citizen 
should  do  in  the  co-operative  management  of  the  affairs  of  community, 
state,  and  nation.  Except  as  we  know  what  he  should  do  we  cannot 
know  for  what  practical  duties  and  abilities  to  train  him.  Civic  educa- 
tion, no  more  than  any  other,  should  be  mere  firing  in  the  air  with  the 
hope  that  it  will  hit  something.  It  should  aim  clearly  at  definite  civic 
abilities  to  do  definite  civic  things.  Except  as  the  community  has 
commissioned  the  schools  to  develop  definite  civic  abilities,  the  schools 
cannot  give  specific  citizenship  training. 

The  citizen  is  concerned  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  civic  support 
and  oversight  of  all  social  agencies  upon  the  strength,  efficiency,  and 
economy  of  which  the  general  welfare  depends. 

There  is  least  question  as  to  his  responsibilities  for  civic  support, 
direction,  and  oversight  over  the  co-operative  services;  public  education; 
public  Hbraries;  public-health  service;  public  hospitals;  public-school 
medical  and  dental  service;  public-park  systems;  water-supply  depart- 
ment; garbage  disposal  department;  construction  and  maintenance  of 
roads,  streets,  bridges;  fire-protection  service;  maintenance  of  law  and 
order:  police,  cchirts,  jails,  etc.;  correctional  and  reform  institutions; 
pubhc  employment  agencies ;  postal  service;  national  defense :  the  army; 
national  defense:  the  navy;  hfe-saving  and  lighthouse  service;  United 
States  Forest  Protection  service;  public  bathing  beaches;  public  dance 
halls;  institutions  for  the  blind,  deaf,  feeble-minded,  and  incapaci- 
tated, etc. 

There  is  more  question  as  to  his  functions  in  relation  to  those  special- 
ized services  which  are  at  bottom  private  or  voluntary  but  the  control 
of  which  has  been  partially  assumed  by  the  citizens  and  their  repre- 
sentative officials — those  ordinarily  termed  ''pubhc  utiUties":  electric 
light  and  power  services;  gas  supply;  street  railway  transportation; 
railroad  transportation;  water  transportation;  express  companies; 
telegraph  and  telephone  service;  private  and  parochial  education; 
milk  supply;  ice  supply;  stock  exchange;  national  and  state 
banks,  etc. 

In  spite  of  the  uncertainty  of  our  general  civic  thinking,  doubtless 
the  good  citizen  should  possess  the  abiUty  to  do  his  individual  share  in 
performing  those  social  functions  for  which  all  citizens  are  equally 
responsible  in  the  support  and  oversight,  in  the  interests  of  the  general 
welfare,  of  each  civic  service  agency.  Some  of  the  things  to  be  done 
by  the  citizens  individually  and  collectively  are  the  following: 


24  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

600.  Setting  up  in  public  opinion  and  maintaining  standards  of  results 
to  be  achieved  by  the  service  agency. 

601.  Keeping  informed  relative  to  the  labors  of  the  service  agency  by  way 
of  noting  whether  it  is  aiming  at  the  standards  of  achievement  sanctioned  by 
public  opinion. 

602.  Keeping  informed  in  general  ways  relative  to  procedure  employed  by 
the  service  agency  in  achieving  the  desired  results. 

603.  Keeping  informed  relative  to  material  working  conditions  necessary 
for  continuously  efficient  service  on  the  part  of  the  agency. 

604.  Supplying  the  money  required  for  providing  the  necessary  material 
facilities. 

605.  Keeping  informed  in  general  ways  relative  to  amounts  and  types  of 
labor  needed,  and  number  and  character  of  the  personnel  of  the  agency. 

606.  Supplying  the  money  required  for  providing  the  necessary  personnel. 

607.  Directly  or  indirectly  selecting  or  approving  the  selection  of  the 
personnel  of  the  agency. 

608.  Currently  or  periodically  examining  directly  or  through  pubhcity 
reports,  or  both,  into  the  results  achieved  by  the  agency,  and  the  degree  of 
economy  employed. 

609.  Where  results  achieved  and  degree  of  economy  employed  comply 
with  standards  of  expectation,  approving  and  properly  rewarding  the  labors 
of  those  who  have  thus  given  good  service. 

610.  Where  results  do  not  reach  the  standard  of  expectation,  or  where 
there  has  been  waste,  find  the  cause  of  the  deficiency,  and  remove  it  as  expedi- 
tiously as  practicable. 

The  characteristics  of  the  good  citizen  who  is  competent  in  the 
performance  of  the  foregoing  civic  functions  are  rather  fully  indicated 
in  the  final  section  of  this  series,  "Matters  Involved  in  Any  Specific 
Ability."  A  few  additional  characteristics  and  abilities,  however, 
should  here  be  presented: 


620.  The  possession  of  a  vivid  and  active  citizenship  consciousness, - 
large-group  consciousness, — ^which  looks  primarily  to   the  general  welfare  of 
community,  state,  nation,  and  family  of  nations. 

621.  A  proportioned  vision  of  the  community  group  as  an  organic, 
economic,  and  poHtic  whole,  but  differentiated  into  innumerable  specialized 
service  groups. 

622.  A  similar  view  of  the  state  as  a  differentiated  whole;  and  of  the 
nation;  and  of  the  world. 

623.  Ability  to  read  the  character  and  measure  the  extent  of  one's  social 
obligations  and  duties  in  the  amount  and  character  of  things  done  for  one  by 
other  individuals,  groups,  and  agencies. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  25 

624.  Ability  to  read  and  measure  one's  individual  rights  in  the  quantity  of 
one's  service  to  the  general  group.  Ability  to  read  one's  rights  as  things 
earned. 

625.  The  ability  to  employ  facts  so  effectively  that  injustice  cannot  be 
done  where  the  facts  are  clear;  and  so  that  inefficiency  cannot  persist  where 
the  facts  are  clear. 

626.  AbiUty  to  view  all  problems  of  social  performance  and  social  control 
in  the  various  fields  of  human  activities  in  relation  to  actual  natures,  powers, 
capacities,  frailties,  etc.,  of  human  beings. 

627.  The  abihty  to  use  general  principles  in  the  solution  of  economic, 
political,  and  other  social  problems. 

628.  Ability  to  substitute  intelligence  for  physical  force  as  the  method 
of  adjusting  social  differences. 

629.  Abihty  to  protect  one's  self  from  social,  economic,  and  political 
fallacies,  illusions,  misrepresentations,  petty-mindedness,  fragmentary- 
mindedness,  etc. 

630.  Ability  and  disposition  to  earn  the  equivalent  of  what  one  consmnes, 
and  to  share  effectively  in  a  public  opinion  that  makes  this  demand  of  all. 
A  sense  of  personal  independence  that  will  not  permit  one  to  be  an  economic 
parasite  upon  others,  and  which  demands  that  others  be  not  parasitic  upon 
him. 

631.  A  knowledge  of  the  kinds  of  mistakes  frequently  made  in  the  perform- 
ance of  specialized  civic  functions;  the  injuries  or  losses  caused  thereby; 
the  modes  of  prevention. 

632.  A  full  knowledge  of  all  laws  which  one  is  expected  to  obey. 

633.  Habit  of  keeping  informed  relative  to  new  legislation. 

634.  Strict  obedience  to  both  the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  the  law  so  long 
as  it  stands  upon  the  statute  books. 

635.  An  understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  social-service  labors  and 
sacrifices  which  have  brought  our  institutions  and  social  procedures  to  their 
present  high  levels  of  development. 

VI.      GENERAL   SOCIAL  CONTACTS  AND  RELATIONSHIPS 

700.  Abihty  to  act  in  those  sympathetic,  tactful,  and  human  ways  that 
are  both  most  agreeable  and  also  most  effective  in  the  conduct  of  one's 
relations  with  one's  associates. 

701.  Ability  to  comply  with  all  those  social  forms  and  conventions  which 
facihtate  human  association. 

702.  Abihty  and  disposition  in  the  conduct  of  one's  social  affairs  to  avoid 
the  many  things  which  are  disagreeable  to  others. 

703.  The  ability  to  associate  easily  and  naturally  with  individuals  of 
diverse  interests  and  specialties. 


26  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

704.  Ability  and  disposition  to  make  a  wise  choice  of  companions;  and 
ability  to  develop' and  maintain  friendship  with  people  of  high  character  and 
of  diverse  natures,  activities,  and  interests. 

705.  Ability  to  associate  easily,  naturally  and  agreeably  with  individuals 
of  the  various  levels  of  maturity. 

706.  Sincerity,  honesty,  straightforwardness,  truthfulness,  fair-dealing, 
steadfastness,  and  dependableness  in  one's  dealings  with  others. 

707.  Ability  to  read  the  motives  and  to  sense  the  thought  and  reactions 
of  others. 

708.  Ability  to  gain  the  confidence  of  those  with  whom  one  comes  in 
contact. 

709.  Thoughtfulness  for  the  personal  comfort  of  others. 

710.  Attitude  of  tolerance  toward  the  beliefs  of  fellow-men. 

711.  Self-confidence  and  serenity  of  mind  whatever  the  social  situation. 

712.  Punctuality  in  meeting  appointments. 

713.  Ability  in  one's  dress  and  otherwise  to  maintain  a  proper  personal 
appearance. 

714.  Ability  to  create  and  maintain  a  homelike  atmosphere  about  the 
place  in  which  one  lives. 

715.  Ability  to  converse  agreeably  and  effectively  upon  a  great  variety  of 
topics  and  in  a  mood  and  manner  suitable  to  the  situation. 

716.  Ability  to  tell  interesting  stories  interestingly — and  many  of  them. 

717.  The  ability  to  refrain  from  conversation  under  conditions  where  it 
is  annoying  or  disagreeable  to  others. 

718.  Ability  to  be  a  good  Hstener. 

719.  Ability  to  draw  out  the  conversational  powers  of  others,  and  to  set 
them  at  ease  in  social  intercourse. 

720.  Ability  to  control  one's  temper. 
Note. — This  list  should  be  much  extended. 

Vn.      LEISURE   OCCUPATIONS 

801.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  diversified  observation  of  men  and 
things  and  affairs  as  an  enjoyable  and  fruitful  leisure  occupation. 

802.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  abundant  and  greatly  diversified 
reading  as  a  means  of  enjoyable  and  fruitful  indirect  observation  of  men,  things, 
and  affairs,  and  of  vicarious  participation  in  those  affairs. 

803.  AbiHty  through  reading  to  enter  into  the  serious  thought-life  of  the 
world. 

804.  Ability  and  disposition  to  participate  in  a  large  number  of  unspecialized 
practical  activities  (q.v.)  as  enjoyable  and  fruitful  spare-time  occupations. 

805.  Ability  to  utilize  conversation  as  a  profitable  and  enjoyable  means  of 
participating  socially  in  the  thought  of  the  world. 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  27 

806.  Ability  and  disposition  to  give  expression  to  one's  experiences  in 
participation,  observation,  reading,  travel,  etc.,  in  proper  ways  and  under 
proper  circumstances. 

807.  Ability  and  disposition  to  turn  over  in  niind  in  quiet  thought  or 
meditation  one's  experiences. 

808.  Ability  to  participate  in  the  more  formal  public  discussion  of  matters 
of  current  interest. 

809.  Ability  and  disposition  to  utilize  lectures  as  means  of  widening  one's 
thought  by  entering  into  the  thought  of  others. 

810.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  taking  up  occasionally  the  system- 
atic study  of  some  new  thing  in  which  one  is  interested. 

811.  Ability  profitably  to  utilize  the  participative  and  observational 
opportunities  of  travel. 

812.  Ability  to  use  the  out-door  life  of  nature  as  a  source  of  recreation 
both  for  mind  and  body. 

813.  Ability  to  utilize  music  for  healthful,  abundant,  and  varied  awakening 
of  one's  emotional  nature. 

814.  AbiHty  to  utilize  the  products  of  the  visual  arts  as  sources  of  enjoyable 
and  profitable  aesthetic  [and  intellectual]  experiences. 

815.  AbiHty  to  utilize  pictures  as  a  means  of  enjoyable  and  fruitful  indirect 
observation  of  human  affairs. 

816.  AbiHty  wisely  to  utilize  the  drama,  silent  and  spoken,  as  a  means  of 
enjoyable  and  fruitful  indirect  observation  of  human  character,  action,  and 
affairs. 

817.  AbiHty  to  read  Hterature  in  d^  foreign  language. 

818.  Amateur  productive  ability  in  fields  of  the  fine  arts.  [See  "  Unspecial- 
ized  Occupations."] 

819.  Philanthropic  activities  of  certain  types. 

820.  Church  activities. 

821.  Disposition  and  habit  of  walking  or  hiking,  especiaUy  in  the  country. 

822.  Ability  to  participate  fully  in  desirable  activities  of  social  clubs. 

823.  Ability  to  dance:   social  dances,  folk  dances,  gymnastic  dances. 

824.  AbiHty  to  entertain  one's  friends,  and  to  respond  to  entertainment 
by  one's  friends. 

825.  Family  and  social  correspondence. 

826.  Ability  to  swim. 

827.  Ability  to  play  tennis. 

828.  AbiHty  to  ride  horseback. 

829.  Ability  to  play  baU  games  of  various  kinds. 

830.  Ability  to  take  part  in  a  variety  of  running  games. 

831.  Ability  to  play  a  variety  of  social  games. 
[832.  Ability  to  paddle  a  canoe  or  row  a  boat.]^ 

» The  items  in  brackets  were  rejected  by  a  majority  of  the  teachers  in  Los  Angeles. 


28  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

[8^3.  Ability  to  ride  a  bicycle.] 

834.  Motoring. 

[835.  Hunting,  trapping,  etc.] 

[836.  Fishing.] 

[837.  Bowling.] 

[838.  BiUiards.] 

[839.  Skating.] 

840.  Competitive  athletic  events.  . 

841.  Ability  to  draw  up  for  one's  self  and  hold  to  a  balanced  program  of 
desirable  leisure  occupations. 

842.  Ability  effectively  to  perform  one's  civic  duties  in  the  co-operative 
support  and  control  of  pubhc  agencies  engaged  in  the  provision  of  recreational 
opportunities. 

Any  of  these  may  be  objectives  in  themselves.  At  the  same  time, 
most  are  means  to  the  attainment  of  other  objectives  of  general  type — 
general  physical  objectives,  general  mental  objectives,  general  social 
objectives,  etc. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  for  every  other  field  of  human  activity,  there 
is  both  play-level  and  worli-level.  The  play-level  in  any  field  is  a  field 
of  leisure  occupation.  The  latter  field,  therefore,  reaches  out  into  all 
of  the  other  fields  of  activity  here  presented,  on  the  play-level  in  those 
fields. 

Vin.      GENERAL  MENTAL  EFFICIENCY 

Most  of  the  abilities  involved  in  these  lists  are  specific.  Underlying 
them,  however,  and  involved  in  them  are  certain  general  and  fundamental 
matters.  On  the  one  hand,  there  is  the  general  physical  health,  strength, 
and  fulness  of  development.  Equally,  there  should  be  a  generous  fulness, 
completeness,  and  proportion  of  mental  development.  This  is  in  part, 
the  sum  of  the  specifics  of  knowledge,  valuation,  powers  of  judgment, 
etc.,  which  enter  into  the  particular  abilities  and  activities.  But  it  is 
more — far  more.  It  is  the  general  matrix  in  which  all  of  the  more  or  less 
isolated  specifics  find  a  place,  and  out  of  which  they  spring.  It  is  a 
thing  in  need  of  generous  and  proportioned  development  as  a  means 
of  developing  the  specific  abilities.  It  is  prior  and  prerequisite  to  them. 
Without  it,  the  specifics  of  proper  form  and  character  do  not  and  cannot 
exist.     Some  of  the  things  involved  are  the  following: 

901.  A  proportioned  intellectual  apprehension,  such  as  one's  natural 
capacities  will  permit,  of  the  fundamental  realities  which  make  up  the  world 
of  man's  life.  Awakened  interests  in,  and  tendencies  to,  attention  to  these 
realities.  Normal  appreciations  and  emotional  reactions.  The  realities 
include: 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  29 

a)  The  nature  of  man. 

b)  Human  institutions. 

c)  Manners  and  customs. 

d)  Special  human  groups  and  their  specialized  situations,  activities,  duties, 
rights,  etc. 

e)  Nature  of  man's  geographical  habitat,  and  his  distribution  and  relations 
and  reactions  therein. 

/)  The  genesis  of  man,  his  nature,  his  habitat,  institutions,  modes  of 
action,  etc.    A  broad  and  rich  historical-mindedness. 

g)  The  world  of  plant  life. 

h)  The  world  of  animal  life. 

i)  The  world  of  chemical  phenomena. 

j)  The  world  of  physical  phenomena. 

k)  The  geological  world. 

/)  The  astronomical  world. 

m)  The  world  of  number  and  quantity. 

n)  The  world  of  form,  color,  visual  art.  A  mind  enriched  with  the  great 
visual  art  of  the  world. 

0)  World  of  sound  and  music.  A  mind  enriched  with  the  world's  great 
music. 

p)  World  of  language  and  of  literature.  A  mind  enriched  through  the  read- 
ing of  the  great  Hterature  of  the  world. 

q)  The  world  of  technology. 

r)  The  world  in  composite  forms:  woods,  hills,  mountain  streams,  lakes, 
oceans,  farms,  cities,  etc. 

s)  The  worlds  of  myth,  legend,  folklore  and  fairy-tale — realities  of  a  sort, 
since  they  are  worlds  created  in  man's  imagination. 

902.  In  each  of  the  fields  a  sense  of  proportion;  and  sensitiveness  to 
disproportion,  distortion,  incongruity,  falsity,  incompleteness,  fragmentari- 
ness,  etc. 

903.  A  well-exercised  and  properly  developed  sense  of  humor. 

904.  Ability  to  do  one's  own  thinking. 

905.  Ability  to  think  in  terms  of  realities.     Reality-mindedness. 

906.  Ability  and  disposition  throughout  life,  according  to  one's  native 
capacity,  to  engage  with  pleasure  and  profit  in  a  varied  repertory  of  intellectual 
activities  of  play  type  for  the  sake  of  maintenance  of  one's  mental  integrity 
and  virility.     [Duplicate.] 

907.  AbiUty  to  utilize  one's  unspecialized  work-activities  as  a  means  of 
mental  maintenance.     [DupHcate.] 

908.  Ability  fully  to  utilize  the  opportunities  offered  by  one's  vocation 
in  the  maintenance  of  one's  general  mental  powers.     [Duplicate.] 

909.  AbiUty  to  lay  out  for  one's  self  and  hold  to  a  program  of  experiences 
which,  considering  all  circumstances  and  conditions,  promises  maximum 
benefits  in  the  development  and  maintenance  of  one's  mental  Ufe. 


30  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

910.  Ability  to  see  and  judge  one's  own  abilities,  capacities,  aptitudes, 
strengths,  weaknesses,  short-comings,  etc. 

911.  The  ability  to  choose  a  vocation  that  is  adapted  to  one's  various 
personal  characteristics;  and  properly  to  evaluate  suggestions  and  advice  by 
vocational  guidance  specialists. 

912.  Ability  to  recognize  the  symptoms  of  mental  inefficiency  or  disability. 

913.  Ability  to  take  the  protective,  precautionary,  or  remedial  steps 
necessary  to  protect  one's  self  or  family  from  the  various  causes  of  needless 
mental  inefficiency  or  disability. 

914.  Ability  to  keep  reasonably  well  informed,  in  the  degree  to  be  expected 
of  a  layman,  as  to  the  discoveries  of  science  in  the  field  of  development  and 
maintenance  of  mental  efficiency. 

915.  AbiHty  to  remain  sedentary  or  physically  passive  for  extended 
periods,  while  at  the  same  time  one  is  fully  active  intellectually. 

916.  The  disposition  always  in  whatever  circumstances  to  do  one's  best; 
to  hold  to  high  ideals  and  standards. 

917.  A  general  dislike  of  things  cheap,  careless,  and  tawdry;  the  disposition 
and  the  habit  of  greatly  valuing  and  holding  to  the  best. 

918.  The  ability  "to  keep  one's  head,"  one's  intellectual  poise  and  sense 
of  proportion,  one's  emotional  serenity  in  the  face  of  circumstances,  however 
trying.     Ability  to  be  a  good  sportsman — whatever  the  chances  bring. 

919.  A  philosophy  of  life  which  is,  so  far  as  possible,  grounded  in  science — 
physical,  biological,  psychological,  and  social. 

IX.      RELIGIOUS  ATTITUDES  AND  ACTIVITIES 

'Whether  or  not  the  public  schools  should  take  care  of  any  portion 
of  religious  training,  the  attitudes  and  activities  constitute  an  essential 
portion  of  man's  life.  In  considering  the  entire  range  of  his  activities 
and  characteristics,  they  must  be  included.  In  considering  the  objectives 
of  his  education,  they  must  be  considered,  even  though  they  be  not 
included  among  the  objectives  of  public  education.  They  should  be 
taken  care  of  somewhere. 

The  following  statement  makes  no  pretense  to  proportion  or  com- 
pleteness. It  attempts  merely  to  mention  some  things  about  which 
there  can  be  least  question.  This  list  was  not  passed  upon  or  used  by 
the  Los  Angeles  teachers. 

looi.  A  sense  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  A  full  sense  of  membership 
in  the  large  or  total  social  group.  Large-group  consciousness.  A  sense  of 
human  interdependency,  of  community  of  nature,  of  origin,  of  vicissitudes,  and 
of  destiny.  The  tendencies  to  action  and  reaction  that  are  inherent  in  the 
large-group  consciousness. 

1002.  Sense  of  oneness  with  humanity  as  a  whole — present,  past,  and 
future.     Sense  of  the  position  of  one's  own  generation  in  the  long  interlinked 


EDUCATIONAL  OBJECTIVES  31 

series  of  generations.  A  widened  large-group  consciousness  that  looks  back- 
ward and  forward.  Tendencies  to  social  action  in  response  to  this  widened 
large-group  consciousness. 

1003.  Ability  to  see  one's  environment,  both  the  social  and  the  infra- 
social,  sub  specie  aeternitatis,  as  a  vast  and  restless  sea  of  forces  and  phenomena, 
infinite  in  number,  extent,  subtlety,  and  complexity.  Ability  to  see  and  realize 
one's  oneness  with  this  environment.  An  abiding  sense  of  oneness  with  and 
within  the  infinite  order  of  things  and  forces  which  make  up  Reality.  [The 
vision  provided  by  science — ^physical,  biological,  psychological,  social.] 

1004.  A  sense  of  the  rights  of  others  and  of  one's  duties  to  others  which  is 
inherent  in  the  large-group  consciousness  and  vision. 

1005.  Equally,  a  sense  of  one's  own  rights,  and  of  the  duties  of  others 
towards  one,  which  is  equally  inherent  in  the  large-group  consciousness  and  vision. 

1006.  A  sense  of  the  dignity  of  man — of  one's  self  and  of  others — ^which 
springs  from  one's  vision  of  the  numberless  forces  and  influences  which 
converge  upon  each  individual  and  which  radiate  outward  from  him.  [Vision 
provided  by  history,  Uterature,  biology,  etc.] 

1007.  A  proper  humihty  which  grows  out  of  a  recognition  of  one's  relative 
powerlessness  within  one's  self,  and  of  one's  full  and  continual  dependence 
upon  one's  physical  and  social  milieu. 

1008.  Ability,  habit,  and  disposition  to  follow  the  leadership  of  the  world's 
Men  of  Vision. 

1009.  Ability  to  catch  for  one's  self  such  ghmpses  as  are  permitted  to 
finite  vision  of  the  Being  which  actuates  the  universe  as  revealed  in  natural 
manifestations,  in  living  creatures,  in  mankind,  in  man's  highest  examples,  in 
the  record  of  man's  thought  and  action  and  aspiration  as  presented  in  history, 
literature,  art,  science,  philosophy,  and  in  man's  religious  Uteratures. 

loio.  A  sense  of  personal  security,  of  confidence  in  the  future,  of  confidence 
in  the  unseen  post-mundane  portions  of  one's  existence,  and  a  cheerful  acqui- 
escence in  the  order  of  things,  which  springs  from  a  sense  of  oneness  with  and 
within  a  cosmic  whole  of  infinite  power,  of  complete  order  and  obedience  to 
law,  and  apparently  of  benevolent  purposes  for  mankind  in  proportion  as  man 
actively  seeks  to  conform  to  the  spirit  of  the  whole,  and  to  its  laws. 

loi I.  The  maintenance  of  a  lifelong  Wonder  in  the  presence  of  the  limitless 
Phenomena  through  the  midst  of  which  passes  the  orbit  of  man's  life. 

1012.  Abihty  to  participate  as  fully  and  abundantly  as  one's  original 
nature  will  permit  in  rehgious  and  philosophic  thought  of  the  type  characteristic 
of  man  at  his  best  and  highest. 

X.      PARENTAL  RESPONSIBILITIES 

iioi.  The  physical  qualities  necessary  for  parenthood  of  desirable  type. 
[Duplicate.] 

1 102.  The  mental,  moral,  and  social  qualities  necessary  for  parenthood 
of  proper  character.     [DupHcate.] 


32  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

1 103.  Ability  to  supply  the  material  needs  of  their  children.     [Duplicate.] 

1 104.  Ability  to  read,  as  fully  as  conditions  permit,  the  potential  character- 
isticsjand  abilities  of  one's  children. 

1 105.  Ability  to  particularize  the  abilities  and  personal  characteristics 
which  should  be  aimed  at  in  the  up-bringing  of  one's  children. 

1 106.  Ability  to  do  one's  share  in  co-operatively  getting  the  particularized 
objectives  of  the  training  of  their  children  determined  by  specialized  agencies; 
particularly  the  schools. 

1 107.  Ability  to  judge,  and  in  large  part  to  initiate  the  choice  of  the 
experiences  which  their  children  should  have  in  order  to  attain  the  character- 
istics and  abilities  proper  for  them. 

1 108.  AbiHty  to  do  one's  share  in  getting  specialized  agencies  to  determine 
the  child-experiences  best  for  attaining  the  goals  of  achievement. 

1 109.  Ability  to  judge  and,  in  large  part,  independently  to  choose,  the 
material  opportunities  and  conditions  to  be  provided  the  children  for  their 
experiences. 

mo.  Ability  to  provide  the  material  conditions  of  the  desirable  child- 
experiences  in  unspecialized  ways  so  far  as  it  is  desirable  to  provide  them  in 
this  way. 

nil.  Ability  to  do  one's  share  in  co-operatively  getting  the  material 
conditions  of  the  desirable  child-experiences  provided  by  specialized  agencies. 

1 1 12.  Ability  to  provide  the  proper  parental  share  of  the  personal,  social, 
and  moral  influences  necessary  to  the  right  up-bringing  of  children. 

1 1 13.  Ability  to  control  the  children's  contacts  with  the  general  life  of 
the  community,  juvenile  and  adult,  in  the  interests  of  the  children's  right 
up-bringing. 

1 1 14.  AbiHty  to  do  one's  share  in  co-operatively  getting  a  proper  portion 
of  the  personal  and  social  factors  of  their  children's  experiences  provided  by 
specialized  agencies;  particularly  the  schools. 

1 1 15.  Ability  to  judge  their  degree  of  success  in  carrying  their  children's 
development  forward  toward  the  predetermined  goals  of  achievement. 

1 1 16.  Ability  to  judge  the  degree  of  success  of  specialized  agencies, 
particularly  the  schools,  in  assisting  their  children  to  achieve  the  goals  of  their 
up-bringing. 

11 17.  Ability  to  do  one's  individual  share  in  the  co-operative  support 
and  control  of  speciahzed  agencies  to  which  child-training  functions  are 
delegated.     [Duplicate:   Civic] 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  COMPOSITION  OF  AN  ABILITY 

What  is  an  ability  ?  In  most  or  all  cases  it  appears  to  be  a  highly 
complex  thing.  It  is  a  composite  of  many  elements.  Take,  for  example, 
the  ability  to  use  language  which  is  grammatically  correct.  This 
involves  certain  habits,  skills,  valuations,  attitudes,  desires,  knowledge, 
sensitiveness  to  the  expectations  and  criticisms  of  others,  watchfulness 
over  one's  language,  ability  to  self-judge,  dislike  for  grammatically 
incorrect  language,  a  feeling  for  right  and  wrong  forms,  an  interest  in 
language,  etc. 

No  one  of  these  factors  alone  is  sufficient  to  produce  grammatically 
correct  English.  It  requires  simultaneous  working  of  all  of  them. 
As  education  proceeds,  therefore,  to  produce  the  ability  to  keep  one's 
language  grammatically  correct,  we  must  aim  at  producing  the  several 
factors  which  compose  this  ability. 

Space  will  not  permit  taking  up  each  one  of  the  several  hundred 
abilities,  presented  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  and  thus  reducing  each  to 
the  factors  of  which  it  is  composed;  nor  does  it  seem  necessary.  It 
appears  possible  to  draw  up  a  general  composite  list  of  the  factors 
involved  in  any  ability.  By  stating  each  of  the  factors  in  general 
terms,  it  can  be  applied  in  connection  with  any  one  of  the  several  hun- 
dred classified  abilities. 

The  list  presented  in  this  chapter  is  an  attempt  to  formulate  such  a 
generalized  or  composite  list.  It  is  not  supposed  that  every  one  of  the 
following  fifty  factors  is  involved  in  appreciable  degree  in  every  one  of 
the^five-lmndred^nd  fifty jpecific  abilities  enumerated  in  the  foregoing 
chapter.  Some  of  the  latter  are  matters  of  relatively  little  importance; 
it  is  therefore  manifestly  absurd  to  apply  to  them  certain  of  the  factors 
stated  in  the  composite  list  here  presented.  Naturally  the  profession 
must  use  ordinary  common  sense  in  using  such  a  working  device  as  this. 
It  is  drawn  and  worded  with  reference  to  the  more  serious  abilities. 
It  needs  to  be  modified  in  content  and  re-worded  when  it  is  applied  to 
the  abilities  of  relatively  little  moment.  This,  however,  can  be  suffi- 
ciently done  in  the  process  of  using  it. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  items  which  stood  the  test  of  scrutiny 
on  the  part  of  twelve  hundred  high-school  teachers  of  Los  Angeles. 
A  few  of  them  are  additions  suggested  by  the  teachers. 

33 


I 


34  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

MATTERS   INVOLVED   IN   ANY   SPECIFIC  ABILITY 

i-a.  Interest  in  the  things  involved:  materials,  forces,  processes,  experiences, 
results,  etc. 

2-a.  Automatic  watchfulness  or  attention  to  the  things  involved. 

ya.  Right  valuation  of  the  things,  processes,  results,  etc.,  involved. 
[Attitudes,  appreciations,  etc.] 

4-a.  Desire  for  the  practical  results  that  come  from  exercise  of  the  ability. 

S-a.  Desire  for  the  ability  or  the  characteristics — for  the  sake  of  the 
results. 

6-a.  Delight  in  the  experiences  involved.  [Love  of,  appreciation  of, 
desire  for,  etc.] 

y-a.  Ability  to  perform  efificiently  all  of  the  specified  acts  involved. 

S-a.  The  habits  and  skills  necessary  for  easy  and  effective  performance. 

g-a.  Self -direction  and  self-control  in  performing  all  activities  involved. 

lo-a.  Ability  to  plan  and  execute  all  action  involved  under  the  secure 
guidance  of  the  related  science. 

ii-a.  A  habit  of  planning  carefully  prior  to  action — where  the  latter  has 
not  yet  been  reduced  to  habit. 

1 2-a.  Knowledge  of  the  things  involved — background  or  foundational 
knowledge,  and  specific  knowledge. 

13-a.  Ability  to  do  one's  thinking  in  terms  of  the  realities  involved — with 
language  merely  to  assist,  not  to  control,  thought. 

14-a.  A  feeling  for  the  things  in  the  concrete  as  these  are  involved  in 
normal  experiences. 

15-a.  Ability  to  collect,  organize,  and  interpret  facts  involved,  and  to 
arrive  at  sound  conclusions. 

i6-a.  A  sense  of  proportion  relative  to  the  things  involved. 

17-a  Valuation  of  high  standards  of  achievement.  Habit  of  holding  to 
high  standards. 

i8-a.  An  awakened  and  active  dislike  of  things  antithetic  or  antagonistic 
to  those  of  proper  character. 

ig-a.  Ability  instantly  to  recognize  defect,  error,  short-coming  in  either 
process  or  result. 

20-a.  Knowledge  of  the  harmful  effects  of  mistakes. 

2i-a.  An  effective  desire  to  avoid  errors. 

2  2-a.  Habit  of  watchfulness  against  errors. 

23-a.  Habit  of  correcting  errors  as  soon  as  discovered. 

24-a.  Knowledge  of  the  kinds  of  errors  against  which  one  should  be  on 
guard. 

25-a.  Willingness  to  exercise  one's  self  in  performing  all  activities  involved. 
Willingness  to  take  trouble,  to  endure  pain,  to  sacrifice  the  immediate  for  the 
remote,  the  lower  for  the  higher,  etc.,  when  occasion  demands. 

26-a.  Disposition  to  permit  no  exceptions  to  right  procedure — all  cir- 
cumstances considered  in  determining  what  is  right  procedure. 


THE  COMPOSITION  OF  AN  ABILITY  35 

27-fl.  An  awakened  conscience  relative  to  Tightness  and  wrongness  in  the 
matters  involved. 

28-a.  Disposition  to  he  active  in  all  matters  that  involve  action.  A  vigor 
and  promptness  of  action  appropriate  to  the  nature  of  the  activity. 

29-a.  Tenacity  of  purpose,  persistence,  industry,  etc.,  in  achieving  the 
results  desired. 

30-0.  Sensitiveness  and  facile  responsiveness  in  one's  reactions  to  the 
things  involved. 

3 1 -a.  Sense  of  responsibility  for  doing  adequately,  promptly,  and  cheerfully 
everything  which  needs  to  be  done. 

32-a.  Pride  in  one's  ability  to  do  the  things  involved;  and  to  achieve 
the  desired  results. 

:i,T)-a.  Confidence  in  one's  ability  to  do  the  things  involved,  and  to  achieve 
the  desired  results. 

34-a.  Sense  of  dissatisfaction,  disappointment,  chagrin,  or  shame,  etc., 
in  one's  failure  to  do  the  things  involved,  or  to  achieve  the  results  desired. 

35-a.  Ability  to  self -judge  the  character  of  one's  action  and  achievement 
in  terms  of  appropriate  principles  and  standards. 

36-a.  Resourcefulness  in  meeting  unexpected  situations,  and  in  dealing 
with  perplexing  problems. 

37-a.  The  ability  to  analyze  a  perplexing  practical  situation  into  its 
elements  by  way  of  solving  problems  that  arise. 

38-a.  Flexibility,  adaptability,  plasticity,  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands 
and  opportunities  of  diverse  situations. 

39-a.  Disposition  to  obey  automatically  the  dictates  of  science  both  in 
planning  and  in  execution.  Invariable  habit  of  turning  to  the  related  science 
for  guidance.  Absolute  and  unquestioning  confidence  in  the  guidance  of 
proven  science. 

40-a.  Valuation  of  and  habit  of  accuracy  in  thought,  plans,  and  action 
involved.  Habit  of  quantitative  thinking  where  this  is  possible  and  advisable. 
Skill  in  handling  the  quantitative  matters  involved. 

41-a.  Valuation  and  habit  of  system  and  order  in  connection  with  the 
matters  involved. 

42-a.  Knowledge  of  and  respect  for  the  expectations  and  standards  of 
right-minded  persons. 

43-a.  Sensitiveness  to  the  expectations  of  right-minded  persons  relative 
to  performance  and  results.  Tendency  to  react  according  to  the  expectations 
of  such  persons. 

44-a.  Immediate  detection  of,  and  a  critical  and  inquiring  attitude  toward, 
any  new  or  unusual  factors  entering  into  the  situation. 

45-a.  Openness  of  mind  toward  new  things,  new  developments,  new 
inventions,  etc.,  in  the  given  field. 

46-a.  A  disposition  and  habit  of  keeping  abreast  of  developments. 


^6  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

47-a.  Knowledge  of  when  one  should  perfonn  the  labors  one's  self  and 
when  one  should  leave  them  to  others,  especially  the  specialists. 

48-0.  Use  of  methods  which  involve  maximum  economy  of  time  and  labor. 

49-a.  Ability,  in  tasks  requiring  group  effort,  to  co-operale  fully  with 
one's  associates. 

50-a.  Full  appreciation  of  the  beauties  of  the  things  that  enter  in. 

51-fl.  Normal  emotional  responses  to  the  situations  and  things  involved. 

52-a.  Ability  to  act  with  a  view  not  only  to  immediate  but  also  to  ultimate 
results,  personal  and  social. 

53-a.  Courage  in  facing  and  grappling  with  obstacles. 

The  purpose  of  this  device  in  the  labors  is  probably  sufficiently 
obvious.  After  the  abilities,  which  are  to  be  the  objectives,  are  selected 
out  of  the  list  presented  in  chapter  ii,  then  each  one  of  them  is  to  be  set 
up  separately  as  a  goal  to  be  achieved  through  the  processes  of  education. 
In  order,  however,  that  each  may  be  clearly  seen  in  all  of  its  implications, 
it  needs  to  be  broken  up  into  its  several  factors.  This  device,  re-worded 
so  far  as  necessary  in  terms  of  each  of  these  abilities,  shows  the  factors 
to  be  kept  before  the  curriculum-maker  as  he  selects  the  materials  and 
the  pupil  experiences  to  be  employed. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  SEVERAL  DEPARTMENTS 

I.     THE  OBJECTIVES 

When  the  human  characteristics  and  abilities  are  listed  in  the 
form  presented  in  chapter  ii,  it  appears  that  (i)  we  might  aim  at  them 
individually  without  regard  to  the  usual  subjects  or  departments;  (2) 
we  might  group  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  develop  subjects  or  departments 
of  new  and  different  kinds;  or  (3)  we  might  distribute  them  among  the 
present  subjects  and  departments. 

It  is  probable  that  the  different  high-school  departments  have 
grown  up  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  together  the  things  which  more  or 
less  naturally  belong  together.  This  needs  to  be  assumed  until  the 
contrary  is  demonstrated.  On  the  other  hand,  practical  considerations 
make  necessary  the  continuance  of  studies  and  departments  that  are 
not  too  much  removed  from  the  usual  ones.  College  entrance  require- 
ments involve  certain  expectations.  Regulations  of  the  state  department 
and  of  the  legislature  presume  the  continuance  of  certain  subjects  and 
departments.  Teachers  are  specialized  along  departmental  lines. 
Textbooks  are  so  prepared.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  what  is  to  be 
done  in  the  immediate  future  must  assume  the  continuance  of  the 
usual  departments  and  simply  seek  to  make  their  objectives  more 
definite,  and  their  procedures  more  effective.  It  is  a  problem  of  "next 
steps  of  progress'^  in  connection  with  each  high-school  department. 

The  first  departmental  task  in  Los  Angeles  was  for  each  department 
to  search  through  the  comprehensive  series  of  abilities  as  presented 
in  chapter  ii  and  to  select  those  abilities  which  their  department  should 
assist  the  pupils  to  achieve. 

For  example,  the  teachers  of  literature  were  asked  to  go  through' 
the  entire  series  and  discover  that  list  of  characteristics  and  abilities 
which  literature  might  be  instrumental  in  achieving.  This  list,  then, 
brought  together  and  possibly  differently  worded,  becomes  the  objectives 
of  the  department  of  English  in  its  handling  of  literature.  The  plan 
permits  no  opportunity  for  special  departmental  predilections  which 
have  no  relation  to  actual  human  needs.  The  needs  were  determined 
prior  to  these  first  labors  of  the  department  of  English  and  by  a  group 
which  in  the  aggregate  and  in  the  majority  was  not  primarily  interested 
in  the  English  department. 

37 


3^  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

In  the  same  way,  the  department  of  mathematics  went  through  the 
series  and  selected  out  those  abihties  which  mathematics  could  be  used 
to  achieve.  The  biological  science  department  selected  those  appro- 
priate to  biological  science;  and  the  physical  science  department  those 
appropriate  to  the  physical  science.  In  the  same  manner,  each  depart- 
ment found  its  objectives  in  the  same  general  list  of  human  characteristics 
and  activities.  The  plan  automatically  shut  out  a  number  of  forms  of 
special  pleading  which  usually  interfere  in  setting  up  objectives  of  the 
several  departments. 

The  list  of  abilities  as  presented  in  chapter  ii  was  drawn  up  definitely 
in  relation  to  the  needs  of  the  men  and  women  in  general  of  the  city  of 
Los  Angeles.  It  was  not  drawn  up  with  reference  to  the  needs  of  any 
special  academic  class  or  department.  In  this  way,  the  plan  shuts  out 
the  usual  and  frequent  academic  obsessions  relative  to  the  objectives. 
Further,  the  abilities  were  so  drawn  as  to  provide  adequately  for  the 
objectives  of  general  education  in  contradistinction  to  the  objectives 
of  vocational  education.  The  plan,  therefore,  permits  the  formulation 
of  a  curriculum  for  general  education  that  is  not  confused  by  the  voca- 
tional considerations.  It  is  done  with  the  definite  understanding  that 
the  objectives  of  vocational  training  must  be  drawn  up  separately 
from  the  objectives  of  the  general  training  and  for  each  vocation  separate 
from  every  other. 

II.      GENERAL  TRAINING  VS.   VOCATIONAL  TRAINING 

There  is  a  type  of  confusion  of  thought  that  arises  everywhere  in 

\}    .connection  with  the  work  of  almost  every  high-school  department. 

Vl/'  i  Y  This  is  the  confusion  of  the  general  training  with  the  vocational  training; 

V        ^    ^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  arguments  for  the  one  in  filling  in  the  content  of  the  other. 

-^       •  <?    >■'         Strange  as  the  statement  may  seem,  high  schools  have  not  yet 

(J      \v/    /    clearly  differentiated  between  general  training  and  vocational  training. 

They  have  not  clarified  their  ideas  as  to  what  should  be  the  content  of 

either,  when  it  is  to  be  considered  wholly  separate  from  the  other. 

The  general  training  is  that  training  to  be  given  to  all,  irrespective 
of  the  specialized  calling  into  which  they  may  go.  Except  as  they 
\  \  differ  in  natural  capacity  and  aptitude,  it  will  be  much  the  same  for  all. 
It  is  for  the  things  which  they  have  in  common.  It  must  be  drawn, 
therefore,  without  any  consideration  of  specialized  vocational  needs, 
since  these  are  not  needs  in  common.  For  the  vocational  training  must 
then  be  included  the  things  which  are  not  needed  in  common,  but  which 
are  demanded  by  the  specialized  activities  of  the  specific  callings.     This 


V  \ 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SEVERAL  DEPARTMENTS        39 

training  must  be  only  for  those  who  have  chosen  a  calHng;  and  they 
will  pursue  only  those  educational  objectives  appropriate  to  the  calling 
chosen. 

But  subjects  are  involved  in  both.     Mathematics,   for  example, 
is  concerned  in  general  training.     It  is  also  involved  in  specialized  ways 
in  many  kinds  of  vocational  training.     The  high-school  problem  is  how 
to  care  for  the  mathematical  element  in  each  without  excess  or  deficiency 
in  either.     The  usual  high-school  solution  is  to  organize  one  series  of 
high-school   mathematics    courses   without   looking   clearly    to    either 
general  or  vocational  needs  with  the  hope,  nourished  by  reiterated 
assertion,  that  it  will  provide  both  the  best  general  training  and  the  best 
vocational  training.     In  the  usual  case  it  is  an  evasion,  not  a  solution.  | 
There  can  be  no  solution  until  we  draw  up  the  mathematics  for  general/ 
training  and  that  for  specialized  training  wholly  independently;    and' 
each  on  a  previously  and  carefully  prepared  foundation. 

An  analogous  problem  confronts  every  high-school  department. 
Every  department  must  draw  up  the  content  of  its  program  twice: 
once  as  general  training;  once  as  vocational  training. 

The  work  in  Los  Angeles  here  reported  relates  to  one  side  of  the 
problem  only,  namely,  the  general  training.  The  objectives  of  the 
several  departments  herein  presented,  and  the  other  matters,  are  only 
those  of  the  general  training.  When  this  side  of  the  work  is  finished, 
the  vocational  will  be  undertaken.  A  department  cannot  know  where 
to  begin  with  its  vocational  program  until  it  knows  what  foundation  is 
to  be  provided  in  the  general  training. 

III.      PUPIL   ACTIVITIES   AND   EXPERIENCES 

After  each  department  had  assembled  the  objectives  at  which  the 
department  should  aim  in  its  labors,  the  first  departmental  problem 
was  solved — for  the  time  being  and  until  a  better  solution  was  forth- 
coming. The  next  question  then  was,  What  are  the  activities  and 
experiences  on  the  part  of  the  pupils  which  are  necessary  for  achieving 
these  objectives?  The  pupil  experiences  and  activities  are  the  cur- 
riculum. 

The  plan  employed  was  to  take  each  objective  individually  or  to 
take  a  related  group  of  them  collectively  and  to  draw  up  a  statement  of 
the  several  specific  things  which  a  pupil  may  or  ought  to  do  or  to  experi- 
ence in  order  that  he  may  arrive  at  the  desired  goal.  The  form  of  state- 
ment of  the  pupil  experiences  is  illustrated  in  the  chapter,  which  follows, 
on  literature  and  general  reading. 


^ 


40  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

IV.      BASAL  ASSUMPTIONS 

It  is  not  enough  merely  to  have  the  objectives  for  guidance  in 
formulating  the  series  of  pupil  activities  and  experiences.  Naturally 
one  must  have  in  mind  the  physical  and  psychological  natures  of  the 
pupils;  and  also  a  knowledge  of  the  environment^  scholastic  and  non- 
m^  scholastic,  in  which  the  students  will  secure  their  experiences.  Over 
and  beyond  these  each  department  really  needs  a  comprehensive  series 
of  general  educational  principles  for  guiding  thought  and  judgment 
through  the  endlessly  intricate  mazes.  Unfortunately  educational 
science  is  on  such  a  primitive  level  that  no  such  list  of  educational 
principles  is  available  for  any  department  of  education;  nor  upon  any 
academic  level,  whether  kindergarten  or  college  of  liberal  arts.     Current 

(education  in  every  department  and  on  every  academic  level  is  today 
administered  on  the  basis  of  hypothesis  and  assumption.  Except  for 
a  very  few  things,  all  we  can  do  in  any  department  is  to  elaborate  and 
make  definite  our  hypotheses  and  basal  assumptions.  These  can 
provide  us  with  better  guidance  than  nothing  at  all.  Actual  use  of  the 
best  hypotheses  which  we  can  formulate  will  test  their  validity  and  thus 
gradually  develop  the  science. 

The  initial  stage  of  every   complex   science   is  hypothesis.     The 

/science  develops  by  testing  out  the  hypotheses,  correcting  them,  rejecting 
the  things  that  will  not  stand  the  test  and  keeping  those  things  which 
do  stand  the  test.  This  is  certain  to  be  the  road  of  science  in  establishing 
the  major  things  in  the  field  of  education.  Careful  experimentation 
*  will  here  and  there  provide  supplementary  and  confirmatory  tests. 
Statistical  studies  will  be  for  the  purpose  of  accurately  assembling 
evidence  relative  to  the  ways  the  h3rpotheses  actually  work  out. 

A  fundamental  problem  therefore  for  the  teachers  of  Los  Angeles 
was,  What  are  the  hypotheses  or  basal  assumptions  which  should  be 
employed  by  the  several  departments  in  formulating  the  pupil  activities  ? 
The  long  task  of  assembling  these  assumptions  is  not  yet  finished. 
The  tentative  series  which  were  employed  as  starting-points  in  the 
deliberations  are  the  ones  which  are  presented  in  this  monograph.  It  is 
possible  that  some  of  them  will  undergo  large  modification  before  they 
are  accepted  by  the  departments,  and  by  the  supervisory  authorities. 

For  suggestion  to  the  several  departments  in  their  formulation  of 
assumptions  appropriate  to  their  special  fields,  a  list  of  general  assump- 
tions was  sent  out  for  reference.  It  was  expected  that  these,  so  far 
as  they  appeared  valid,  would  be  translated  into  the  terms  of  the  several 
special  departments.    They  were  the  following: 


h 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SEVERAL  DEPARTMENTS        41 


ASSUMPTIONS  RELATIVE  TO  THE   OBJECTIVES 

100.  The  efUhHicterislics  and  abilities  which  should  be  possessed  by  men  and 
women  of  the  adult  world  are  the  things  to  be  developed  through  the  processes 
of  educaton.    These  are  the  educational  objectives. 

loi.  The  first  practical  task  involved  in  curricidum-construction  is  to 
determine  as  fully  and  exactly  as  possible  the  entire  range  of  characteristics 
and  abilities  which  should  belong  to  well-developed  men  and  women. 

102.  The  abilities  and  characteristics  are  to  be  discovered  only  by  careful 
analysis  of  desirable  human  activities  in  all  fields  of  human  affairs.  [The  first 
step  is  preliminary  analysis,  largely  non-quantitative  and  therefore  tentative; 
it  can  be  made  final,  only  as  it  is  made  quantitatively  exact.] 

103.  The  characteristics  and  abilities  must  be  no  narrow  or  limited  series. 
The  list  should  be  as  wide  as  human  life  in  all  of  its  desirable  aspects. 

104.  Each  characteristic  or  ability  to  be  aimed  at  should  be  definite. 

105.  The  entire  range  of  ultimate  objectives  should  be  determined  without 
reference  to  the  means  to  be  employed  in  attaining  them. 

106.  Individuals  differ  in  the  capacity  to  develop  the  several  abilities 
and  characteristics. 

107.  In  the  case  of  any  individual,  education  will  aim  at  the  abilities 
and  characteristics  which  are  possible  for  him. 

108.  Education  will  not  aim  at  abilities  that  are  not  potential  in  the 
native  capacity  of  the  individual. 

109.  Education  will  aim  at  different  degrees  or  levels  of  ability  for  different 
individuals  according  to  their  native  capacity. 

no.  Education  will  often  aim  at  different  degrees  of  ability  for  individuals 
of  the  same  native  capacity  because  of  differences  in  their  social,  geographical, 
or  vocational  situation. 

lit.  Each  child — so  far  as  it  can  be  administratively  managed — is  to  be 
trained  according  to  his  individtml  capacity  and  needs. 

112.  Outside  of  training  for  their  specialized  occupations,  the  educational 
objectives,  in  kind  and  in  general  outh'ne,  will  be  much  the  same  for  all  indi- 
viduals; in  details  and  in  degree  of  achievement,  they  will  differ  greatly  among 
individuals  according  to  natuaral  capacity  and  social  situation. 

113.  The  characteristics  and  abilities  discovered  through  analysis  should  be 
divided  into  two  lists:  (i)  Those  that  are  sufficiently  developed  through  the 
outside  normal  processes  of  living,  and  which,  therefore,  require  no  scholastic 
labor;  and  (2)  those  that  require  scholastic  effort  in  addition  to  the  outside 
experiences  of  normal  living.  Only  the  second  list  will  require  professional 
attention  in  formulating  the  school's  curriculum. 

Note. — The  experiences  involved  in  the  normal  processes  of  living,  at 
whatever  age,  we  shall  call  fundamental  educational  experiences.  Those  which 
are  consciously  designed  to  prepare  one  for  the  normal  processes  of  living — 
which  are  not  regarded  as  life  itself,  but  only  as  preparatory  for  life — we  shall 


42  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

call  accessory  educational  experiences.  Fundamental  experiences  include:  (i) 
AU  genuine  play  experiences — whether  physical,  social,  intellectual,  or  aesthetic 
— and  whether  at  home,  at  school,  or  at  any  other  place;  (2)  the  normal 
work  activities  of  the  world  in  general,  outside  of  schools,  which  involve  sense 
of  responsibility — occupational  activities,  unspecialized  practical  activities, 
civic  activities,  health  activities,  etc.  The  accessory  experiences  are  those 
work  experiences  found  in  schools  or  directed  by  schools  which  aim  definitely 
and  consciously  at  producing  the  skills,  habits,  powers  of  judgment  and  self- 
guidance,  etc.,  needed  in  the  world  of  practical  affairs.  The  accessory  activities 
involve  sense  of  responsibility  for  results,  and  all  the  other  characteristics  of 
work.  The  things  are  to  be  done  without  reference  to  whether  they  are  pleasant 
or  unpleasant  at  the  moment.  Accessory  activities  are  prompted  in  the  main 
by  derived  interests.  In  so  far  as  instincts  and  interests  can  be  awakened, 
they  may  be  suffused  with  the  spirit  of  play  and  thus  present  characteristics 
of  both  fundamental  and  accessory  activities. 

114.  The  two  lists  will  differ  according  to  the  native  capacities  and  the 
social  situations  of  the  children. 

115.  The  diagnostic  method  of  using  defects,  shortcomings,  and  errors 
as  evidences  of  the  need  of  professional  effort  is  most  fruitful  in  discovering 
the  objectives  that  require  accessory  activities  in  addition  to  the  fundamental. 

116.  Objectives  requiring  directed  effort  should  be  divided  into  three  lists: 
(i)  Those  to  be  cared  for  wholly  by  agencies  other  than  the  school;  (2)  those 
to  be  cared  for  partly  by  the  school  and  partly  by  other  agencies;  (3)  those 
to  be  cared  for  wholly  by  the  school. 

117.  Diversity  of  objectives,  especially  as  regards  level  of  attainment, 
negative  the  possiblity  of  uniform  inflexible  courses  of  study,  the  same  for  all. 

118.  For  each  ultimate  objective,  progress  objectives  should  be  set  up  to 
mark  the  several  levels  of  attainment.  These  are  the  standards  of  achievement 
for  the  several  grade  levels. 

119.  The  major  objectives  of  education  should  be  analyzed  by  way  of 
discovering  the  factors  involved  in  each  of  them.  These  are  in  part  the  still 
more  specific  objectives;  and  in  part,  imderlying  fxmdamentals. 

ASSUMPTIONS  RELATIVE  TO  THE  PUPIL  EXPERIENCES 

130.  Experiences  alone  educate. 

131.  After  making  allowance  for  the  heredity  factor,  the  education  of  any 
person  is  wholly  determined  by  the  experiences  he  has  had. 

132.  A  curriculum  is  the  series  of  experiences  to  be  had  by  an  individual 
as  the  means  and  condition  of  achieving  the  several  educational  objectives. 

133.  Fundamental  experiences — as  defined  above — are  the  ones  that  are 
educationally  most  effective. 

134.  For  attaining  each  objective,  fundamental  experiences  of  the  best 
practicable  type  are  to  be  used  in  maximum  measure. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SEVERAL  DEPARTMENTS  43 

135.  Fundamental  experiences  are  to  be  had  both  at  school  and  within 
the  general  community  life. 

136.  For  attaining  each  objective,  accessory  experiences  are  to  be  used 
only  in  the  degree  in  which  the  results  cannot  be  effectively  or  economically 
attained  through  fundamental  experiences.  They  are  to  be  used  in  minimum 
measure — though,  of  course,  as  much  as  conditions  make  necessary. 

137.  Accessory  experiences  are  to  be  had  mainly  at  school,  or  in  work 
elsewhere  directed  by  the  school. 

138.  Accessory  experiences  are  effective  in  the  degree  in  which  they  are 
involved  in  or  related  to  the  fundamental  experiences  with  which  they  are 
concerned;  or  in  the  degree  in  which  they  are  suffused  with  the  play-spirit 
while  maintaining  the  work  vision  and  sense  of  responsibility. 

139.  A  major  test  of  the  success  of  the  school  work  is  the  measure  in  which 
the  accessory  activities  have  taken  on  the  characteristics  of  fundamental 
activities. 

140.  Play  experiences  should  be  actual  play — ^vigorous,  strenuous,  and 
joyous. 

141.  Most  fundamental  experiences  of  the  play- type  require  careful 
guidance  and  leadership,  much  of  which  should  be  provided  at,  or  in  connection 
with,  the  schools.    Educational  play  experience  must  not  be  irresponsible. 

142.  Work  experiences  should  be  actual  work — with  full  sense  of  responsi- 
bility. 

143.  Even  where  the  fundamental  experiences  prepared  for  are  those  of 
play,  the  accessory  experiences  will  be  work  experiences — though  they  may  be 
suffused  with  the  play-sprit. 

144.  All  preparatory  or  accessory  educational  experiences  should  be 
definitely  and  consciously  preparatory  for  clearly  seen  activities  or  abilities. 
[The  child  should  never  work  in  the  dark,  not  knowing  his  objective.  He 
may  play  without  knowing  the  educational  objectives  of  his  play.  His  teachers 
will  know.] 

145.  The  fundamental  experiences,  whether  of  play- type  or  work- type, 
must  differ  with  the  stages  or  levels  of  maturity  of  the  children. 

146.  The  curriculum  must  therefore  consider  the  physical  and  psycho- 
logical constitution  of  the  children  on  their  different  age-levels;  and  for  each 
level  utilize  only  types  of  fundamental  experiences  that  are  appropriate  to 
that  level. 

147.  Accessory  experiences  must  differ  with  the  levels  of  maturity:  the 
curriculum  must  provide  according  to  the  physical  and  psychological  possi- 
bilities of  each  level. 

148.  The  beginning  of  the  work  of  developing  any  objective  will  be  made 
only  when  the  pupil  has  attained  the  requisite  degree  of  maturity. 

149.  The  training  for  any  objective  is  to  cease  as  soon  as  that  objective  is 
attained  in  desired  degree — whatever  be  the  stage  of  maturity. 


44  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

150.  After  an  ability  has  been  developed,  the  educational  purpose  then 
becomes  changed.  The  purpose  then  becomes  maintenance  of  the  ability,  so 
as  to  prevent  deterioration. 

151.  So  far  as  possible,  maintenance  experiences  will  be  fundamental 
experiences. 

152.  Pupil  experience  at  any  given  stage  of  development  must  be  a  normal 
continuation  of  previous  experiences. 

153.  Fundamental  experiences  of  play- type  will  differ  with  the  native 
capacity  of  the  children. 

154.  Fimdamental  experiences  of  the  work-type  will  differ  with  the  natural 
capacities  of  the  children. 

155.  Accessory  experiences  will  differ  with  the  native  capacities  of  the 
children. 

156.  Pupil  experiences  will  differ  with  the  social  situation  and  opportunity 
of  the  children,  even  with  the  same  objectives  more  where  objectives  differ. 

157.  In  determining  the  pupil  experiences  to  be  employed  in  attaining 
each  objective,  the  curriculum-maker  should  find  the  well-springs  of  action 
and  effort  that  can  be  utilized  in  prompting  to  greatest  endeavor. 

158.  The  method  of  practical,  and  when  possible,  experimental  try-out  is 
to  be  used  in  testing  the  efficacy  of  pupil  experiences  of  all  types  and  on  all 
levels. 

159.  Diversity  of  needed  experiences,  even  in  the  case  of  the  same  general 
objectives,  negatives  the  possibility  of  uniform  inflexible  courses  of  study, 
the  same  for  all. 

160.  The  pupil  experiences  should  always  be  normally  vigorous;  and  often, 
in  most  fields,  on  both  play  and  work  levels  he  strenuous — sometimes  even 
beyond  the  point  of  pain. 

161.  Experiences  on  all  levels  of  maturity  should  be  diversified  and  involve 
all  normal  and  desirable  aspects  of  one's  being. 


CHAPTER  V 
LITERATURE  AND  GENERAL  READING 

As  previously  mentioned  the  teachers  of  literature  went  through 
the  comprehensive  series  of  abilities  and  selected  those  which  should 
be  kept  in  view  as  the  goals  of  the  work  in  literature  and  general  reading. 
After  they  had  thus  pointed  out  the  abilities  to  be  aimed  at,  a  statement 
of  literature  objectives  which  involved  the  more  fundamental  ones 
chosen  was  drawn  up  and  submitted  to  the  teachers  for  their  considera- 
tion. The  following  list  includes  the  fundamental  objectives  as  they 
were  chosen. 

1.  The  ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  abundant  and  greatly  diversified 
reading  as  a  means  of  enjoyable  and  fruitful  indirect  observation  of  men,  things 
and  affairs,  and  of  vicarious  participation  in  those  affairs. 

2.  The  ability  through  reading  to  enter  into  and  participate  in  the  varied, 
but  especially  the  serious,  thought-life  of  the  world. 

3.  A  proportioned  intellectual  apprehension,  such  as  one's  native  capacity 
will  permit,  of  men,  things,  and  affairs;  together  with  the  necessary  normal 
interests,  emotional  accompaniments,  etc.     Specifically,  such  as  the  following: 

a)  The  nature  of  man,  types  of  men,  social  classes,  etc. 
h)  Human  institutions. 

c)  Manners  and  customs. 

d)  Special  human  groups  and  their  specialized  situations,  activities, 
duties,  problems,  etc.     [This  includes  occupation  groups.] 

e)  The  genesis  of  man  and  his  institutions,  customs,  arts,  etc. 
/)  Man's  creations  of  myth,  legend,  and  folklore. 

g)  The  world  of  technology. 

h)  The  world  of  fine  arts. 

i)  Man's  physical  and  geographical  habitat:  (i)  The  world  of  plant  life; 
(2)  world  of  animal  life;  (3)  world  of  chemical  phenomena;  (4)  world  of 
physical  phenomena;   (5)  the  geological  world;   (6)  the  astronomical  world. 

4.  A  mind  enriched  with  the  world's  great  literature. 

5.  A  "human  race, "  "brotherhood  of  man, "  "  large-group"  social  conscious- 
ness. Sympathetic  and  intelligent  social  attitudes  and  reactions — to  things 
local,  state,  national,  and  international. 

6.  Language  abilities  which  in  part  result  normally  from  abundant  and 
diversified  reading: 

a)  Ability  to  read  with  proper  ease,  speed,  and  comprehension. 

h)  Ability  to  spell  the  words  of  one's  writing  vocabulary. 

c)  Command  over  an  adequate  reading,  speaking,  and  writing  vocabulary. 

45 


46  CURRIGULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

d)  Ability  to  use  English  which  is  grammatically  correct. 

e)  Ability  to  organize  and  express  one's  thoughts  effectively. 

/)  The  abiHty  to  get  the  essential  thought  of  books  or  articles  quickly 
with  a  minimum  amount  of  reading. 

g)  Ability  to  read  a  foreign  language. 

h)  A  proper  character  and  degree  of  language-mindedness. 

i)  Amateur  ability  to  do  literary  production  of  different  kinds. 

This  tentative  list  may  be  modified.  The  foregoing  objectives,  how- 
'ever,  were  accepted  with  such  unanimity  that  it  is  improbable  that 
any  of  them  in  substance  will  be  rejected.  Further  changes  are  likely  to 
be  in  the  mode  of  a  statement;  and  by  adding  others  to  the  list. 

The  objectives  practically  coincide  with  some  of  those  presented  by 
the  Committee  on  the  Reorganization  of  English  in  Secondary  Schools. 
They  differ,  however,  in  two  essential  respects.  On  the  one  hand,  they 
give  greater  emphasis  to  literature  as  a  field  of  human  experiences, 
used  for  the  sake  of  the  experiences.  On  the  other  hand,  they  place  less 
emphasis  on  the  technique  of  producing  literature.  In  larger  measure 
than  recognized  by  the  Committee,  they  are  the  objectives  of  literature 
as  a  means  of  general  education,  and  in  less  meas  ire  the  objectives  of 
literature  as  a  field  of  training  amateur  or  professional  writers.  They 
look  to  the  everyday  needs  of  loo  per  cent  of  the  men  and  women  of 
Los  Angeles  rather  than  to  the  specific  professional  needs  of  that  i  per 
cent  or  less  of  the  population  which  may  at  one  time  or  another  engage 
in  professional  or  amateur  literary  production. 

With  the  foregoing  objectives  before  them  the  next  task  of  the 
teachers  was  to  formulate  a  statement  of  pupil  activities  and  experiences 
necessary  for  achieving  each  of  them.  For  objective  I  for  example, 
they  were  to  draw  up  a  list  of  which  the  following  is  only  a  beginning: 

LITERATURE    OBJECTIVE   I 

1.  The  pupil  will  read  Hterature  several  hours  each  week  in  ways  and 
under  conditions  as  normal  as  possible. 

2.  He  will  read  books,  stories,  articles,  etc.,  appropriate  to  his  level  of 
maturity  and  degree  of  achievement. 

3.  He  will  himself,  with  the  advice  of,  and  within  the  limits  set  by  his 
teachers,  choose  the  books  that  he  will  read. 

4.  He  will  read  hterature  that  reveals  Hfe  and  institutions  in  the  different 
countries  of  the  earth. 

5.  He  will  read  literature  which  reveals  human  life  and  affairs  at  different 
periods  in  the  world's  history. 

6.  He  will  do  most  of  his  reading  at  home.  [Except  where  home-life  is 
abnormal.! 


LITERATURE  AND  GENERAL  READING  47 

7.  He  will  often  talk  over  his  reading  with  his  associates,  both  juvenile 
and  adult. 

8.  In  most  of  his  reading,  he  will  read  silently;  and  as  far  as  conditions 
permit,  rapidly. 

9.  He  will 

10.  He  will 

11.  Etc. 

It  is  indispensable  that  education  be  stated  in  terms  of  what  the  pupil 
does  or  experiences.  For  this  reason  it  was  suggested  that,  as  shown  in 
the  example,  each  of  the  pupil  activities  and  experiences  begins  with 
the  words,  "The  pupil  will " 

After  having  decided  upon  the  objectives,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  agree  upon  certain  basal  assumptions  which  could  be  used  for  the 
guidance  of  committees  of  teachers  in  considering  the  pupil  activities 
and  experiences  required  for  achieving  the  several  objectives.  The 
thing  really  needed  is  a  set  of  basic  general  principles;  but  owing  to  the 
embryonic  character  of  educational  science  in  this  field,  it  is  not  possible 
at  present  to  have  anything  which  can  be  dignified  by  the  name  of 
principles.  The  only  thing  possible  at  present  is  to  set  up  certain 
general  assumptions,  which  are  admittedly  tentative,  but  which  can 
serve  until  something  better  can  be  provided.  In  large  measure,  they 
are  but  hypotheses.  But  nine-tenths  and  more  of  the  practical  work 
of  education  proceeds  on  the  basis  of  hypothesis.  The  science  of  educa^ 
tion  is  to  be  derived  in  time  through  the  testing  out  of  these  hypotheses. 
The  general  assumptions  considered  by  the  principals  and  teachers  of 
Los  Angeles  were  the  following: 

LITERATURE — GENERAL  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  The  content  of  the  courses  in  literature  and  general  reading  is  indicated 
by  the  answers  to  the  following  questions:  (i)  What  literature  and  general 
reading  should  be  currently  used  by  the  men  and  women  of  the  city?  (2) 
In  what  manner  ?     (3)  Under  what  circumstances  ?     (4)  For  what  purposes  ? 

2.  Literature  and  general  reading  should  be  used  to  provide  a  large  portion 
of  the  experiences  involved  in  the  general  training  of  all  boys  and  girls. 

3.  For  the  rank  and  file  of  our  population,  including  those  who  graduate 
from  high  schools,  literature  is  a  thing  to  he  used;  and  nothing  more. 

4.  Neither  knowledge  nor  skill  in  the  technique  of  literary  production  is 
necessary  for  those  who  only  use  literature.  [One  can  use  a  watch  without 
knowing  the  technical  make-up;  equally  well,  literature.] 

5.  The  major  experience  in  using  Hterature  for  education  is  reading  it — 
abundantly — with  enjoyment — ^under  normal  reading  conditions. 


48  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

6.  Reading  habits  are  to  be  formed  under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those 
of  desirable  adult  reading  as  practicable. 

7.  In  using  literature  and  general  reading  for  education  there  should  be 
a  maximum  oi  fundamental  experiences;  and  a  minimum  of  accessory  activities. 

8.  Practically  all  normal  reading  of  literature  nowadays  is  silent,  individual, 
and  relatively  rapid  reading. 

9.  Pupil  choices  and  activities  will  not  be  of  desirable  type  without  adult 
guidance,  stimulation,  and  leadership;  yet  pupil  self-direction  should  be 
utilized  as  fully  as  practicable. 

10.  For  equal  values  secured  from  the  literature,  if  they  can  be  tested, 
self-directed  home  or  club  reading  should  be  accorded  larger  credit  than 
teacher-directed  school  reading. 

11.  The  literature  used  for  education — except  that  relatively  small  portion 
that  is  consciously  playful — ^will  present  reconstructions  of  human  nature, 
human  action  and  reaction,  the  background  of  individual  experiences,  etc., 
that  correctly  represent  the  realities. 

12.  The  things  chosen  to  be  revealed  by  literature  must  be  things  worth 
while. 

13.  Literature  is  to  be  used  for  its  experience  value;  not  studied  for 
technique  and  form. 

14.  The  criterion  of  worth  for  general  educational  purposes,  to  be  applied 
to  any  proposed  literary  selection,  must  be  experience  value  as  measured  by  its 
fruits. 

15.  The  literature  used  by  pupils  at  any  given  time  should  look  to  their 
immediate  natures  and  needs  as  well  as  to  ultimate  outcomes. 

16.  The  experiences  involved  in  using  literature  are  wholly  of  play  type — 
the  intellectual  [and  emotional]  play  of  indirect  observation  and  vicarious 
participation. 

17.  Literary  history  is  a  matter  of  little  significance  to  the  men  and  women 
of  the  city. 

18.  A  knowledge  of  literary  types,  beyond  that  learned  incidentally 
through  the  normal  use  of  literature,  is  not  a  necessary  portion  of  the  general 
training. 

19.  Knowledge  of  the  technical  construction  of  literary  types,  beyond  that 
acquired  through  using  them,  can  be  of  no  service  in  the  general  training  of 
the  men  and  women  of  the  city.  ^ 

20.  Studies  about  literature,  for  those  who  need  such  studies,  will  be 
undertaken  only  after  they  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  literature  through 
having  widely  used  and  experienced  it. 

21.  Since  literature  is  to  be  chosen  for  its  revelation,  it  is  a  matter  of 
indifference  in  what  language  it  was  originally  written,  or  what  the  nationality 
of  the  writer  was.     Translations  are  to  be  freely  used. 

22.  Those  who  read  a  foreign  language  should  secure  a  portion  of  their 
literary  experience  through  readings  in  that  language. 


LITERATURE  AND  GENERAL  READING  49 

23.  General  training  in  literature  in  our  high  schools  is  not  for  the 
vocational  training  of  writers. 

24.  Only  those  are  to  be  trained  for  vocational  production  in  this  field  who 
have  definitely  chosen  this  as  their  work;  whom  studies  of  capacity  show 
to  be  fitted  for  it;  and  who  are  capable  of  a  large  degree  of  self-direction  in 
achieving  the  skills  and  understanding. 

25.  Training  for  amateur  literary  production  is  to  be  given  only  to  those 
of  proven  capacity,  aptitude,  and  industry — and  who  require  no  great  amount 
of  teacher-effort  and  assistance. 

26.  Literature  in  its  content  and  revelation  is  a  "social  study."  It  should 
be  classified  with  the  "social  studies"  group;  its  content  chosen  on  the  basis 
of  the  "social  studies"  objectives;  and  made  an  integral  portion  of  the  "social 
studies"  program. 

The  foregoing  series  of  assumptions  represent  the  first  tentative 
draft  presented  to  the  teachers  for  their  consideration,  criticism,  amend- 
ment, acceptance,  rejection.  It  presents  most  of  the  major  problems. 
At  the  same  time  it  suggests  the  solutions — in  hypothesis.  The  teachers 
are  yet  considering  which  of  them  they  will  accept,  which  ones  modify, 
which  ones  reject.  At  the  same  time  they  are  looking  for  any  others 
which,  in  their  judgments,  they  can  consider  valid.  The  series  which 
they  will  finally  use  has  not  yet  been  formulated. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOCIAL  STUDIES 

The  teachers  of  social  studies  pointed  out  a  large  number  of  the 
specific  abilities  as  matters  that  could  be  served  by  the  social  studies. 
The  fundamental  ones  appear  to  be  the  following: 

THE   OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  think,  feel,  act  and  react  as  an  efficient,  intelligent,  sym- 
pathetic, and  loyal  member  of  the  entire  social  group — that  group  that  is  prior 
to  and  above  differentiation  and  within  which  social  differentiation  occurs. 
Large-group  or  citizenship  consciousness.  Sense  of  membership  in  the  total 
social  group,  rather  than  in  some  special  class.  Large-group  local  consciousness 
when  dealing  with  local  problems;  large-group  state  consciousness  when  deahng 
with  state  responsibilities;  large-group  national  consciousness  when  dealing 
with  national  matters;  large-group  world-consciousness  when  deahng  with 
mankind's  responsibilities  for  world-co-operation  and  management. 

2.  The  abihty  of  the  citizen  to  do  his  individual  share  in  performing 
those  social  functions  for  which  all  citizens  are  equally  responsible  in  the 
support,  protection,  and  oversight  of  the  specialized  groups  and  agencies  into 
which  society  is  differentiated  for  effectiveness  of  action.  The  student  is  to 
acquire  that  ability  which,  when  adulthood  is  reached,  will  enable  him  to 
perform  the  following  things  in  connection  with  the  several  specialized  social 
agencies: 

a)  Setting  up  in  public  opinion  and  maintaining  standards  of  results  to 
be  achieved  by  the  service  agency. 

b)  Keeping  informed  relative  to  the  labors  of  the  service  agency  by  way 
of  noting  whether  it  is  aiming  at  the  standards  of  achievement  sanctioned 
by  public  opinion.  • 

c)  Keeping  informed  in  general  ways  relative  to  procedure  employed  by 
the  service  agency  in  achieving  the  desired  results. 

d)  Keeping  informed  relative  to  material  working  conditions  necessary 
for  continuously  efficient  service  on  the  part  of  the  agency. 

e)  Supplying  the  money  required  for  providing  the  necessary  material 
facilities. 

/)  Keeping  informed  in  general  ways  relative  to  amounts  and  types  of 
labor  needed,  and  number  and  character  of  the  personnel  of  the  agency. 

g)  Supplying  the  money  required  for  providing  the  necessary  personnel. 

h)  Directly  or  indirectly  selecting  or  approving  the  selection  of  the  personnel 
of  the  agency. 

50 


SOCIAL  STUDIES  51 

i)  Currently  or  periodically  examining  directly  or  through  publicity 
reports,  or  both,  into  the  results  achieved  by  the  agency,  and  the  degree  of 
economy  employed. 

j)  Where  results  achieved  and  degree  of  economy  employed  comply  with 
standards  of  expectation,  approving  and  properly  rewarding  the  labors  of 
those  who  have  thus  given  good  service, 

k)  Where  results  do  not  reach  the  standard  of  expectation,  or  where 
there  has  been  waste,  find  the  cause  of  the  deficiency,  and  remove  it  as  expe- 
ditiously as  practicable. 

Note. — This  second  objective  thus  involves  a  whole  series  of  specific 
abilities.  Because  of  their  inseparable  and  interrelated  character,  however, 
they  should  be  treated  together  as  one  highly  composite  ability.  This  series 
is  complicated  in  still  another  way.  For  each  separate  specialized  social 
agency,  it  needs  to  be  stated  anew  in  relation  to  and  in  terms  of  that  agency. 
Thus  at  one  time  it  should  be  stated  in  terms  of  the  public-school  system; 
at  another,  in  terms  of  the  city-streets  department;  a  third,  the  postal  system; 
etc.    As  many  series  are  needed  as  there  are  specialized  social  agencies. 

3.  The  ability  and  disposition  to  use  general  principles  in  dealing  with 
economic,  political,  and  other  social  problems. 

4.  The  ability,  the  disposition,  and  the  habit  of  using  facts  as  the  sine 
qua  non  of  thought  and  decision  relative  to  social  matters. 

5.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  diversified  observation  of  men  and 
things  and  afi'airs  as  an  enjoyable  and  fruitful  leisure  occupation. 

6.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  abundant  and  greatly  diversified 
reading  as  a  means  of  enjoyable  and  fruitful  indirect  observation  of  men,  things, 
and  affairs,  and  of  vicarious  participation  in  those  affairs. 

7.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  conversation  and  formal  discussion 
of  economic,  civic,  and  other  social  problems  as  enjoyable  and  fruitful  leisure- 
time  occupations. 

8.  AbiHty  wisely  to  utilize  the  participative  and  observational  opportunities 
of  travel  as  leisure  occupations  of  maximum  pleasure  and  profit. 

9.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  taking  up  occasionally  the  systematic 
study  of  some  new  thing. 

10.  A  proportioned  intellectual  apprehension,  such  as  one's  native  capacity 
will  permit,  of  men,  things,  and  affairs;  together  with  the  necessary  normal 
interests,  emotional  accompaniments,  etc.     Specifically,  such  as  the  following: 

a)  The  nature  of  man,  types  of  men,  social  classes,  etc. 

b)  Human  institutions. 

c)  Manners  and  customs. 

d)  Special  human  groups  and  their  specialized  situations,  activities,  duties, 
problems,  etc.     [This  includes  occupational  groups.] 

e)  Man's  physical  habitat. 

/)  The  genesis  of  man  and  his  institutions,  customs,  arts,  etc. 
g)  Man's  creations  of  myth,  legend,  and  folklore. 


52  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

II.  Ability  to  act  in  those  sjonpathetic,  tactful,  and  human  ways  that 
are  both  most  agreeable  and  also  most  efifective  in  the  conduct  of  one's  relations 
with  one's  associates. 

This  is  the  first  or  tentative  statement  of  the  objectives  selected. 
As  the  work  proceeds  it  may  be  modified  by  the  addition  of  other  objec- 
tives, by  changes  in  the  mode  of  statement,  by  amendment  and  qualifica- 
tion, etc.  Thus  to  know  the  destination  is  one  of  the  surest  guaranties 
of  safe  arrival.  It  is  not  sufficient  however.  One  must  also  know  the 
road  to  be  traveled.  Dropping  the  figure,  we  must  know  the  pupil's 
activities  and  experiences  which  will  safely  bring  him  to  the  goals  of  the 
social  studies.  We  need  therefore  general  principles  to  guide  in  the 
selection  of  pupil  activities.  For  reasons  already  mentioned  we  cannot 
yet  have  general  principles.  It  is  therefore  desirable  to  draw  up  a  list 
of  general  assumptions  for  the  sake  of  guidance  until  the  principles  can 
be  established. 

The  teachers  of  social  studies  in  Los  Angeles  are  at  present  engaged 
upon  the  problem  of  formulating  a  set  of  basal  assumptions  which 
they  can  employ  in  the  guidance  of  the  social  studies  curriculum- 
formulation,  and  of  the  teaching.  In  the  following  list  is  presented  the 
formulation  of  tentative  principles  which  was  the  starting-point  of  their 
labors.  It  was  suggested  that  they  choose  those  which  were  acceptable, 
modify  those  which  were  only  partially  acceptable,  reject  the  unaccept- 
able, and  to  extend  the  list  by  the  addition  of  omitted  ones  which  the 
majority  could  accept.  Thus  the  following  represent  only  the  starting- 
point  of  the  practical  work;  they  do  not  pretend  to  be  in  finished  form. 
Presented  in  this  way,  they  reveal  the  problems,  and  economize  the 
teachers'  time  in  arriving  at  their  own  formulations.  ' 

TENTATIVE  ASSUMPTIONS  AND  PRINCIPLES 

Social  Stydies 

1.  The  fundamental  purpose  of  all  of  the  social  training  is  to  develop 
power  to  act  in  desirable  civic  and  social  ways. 

2.  Power  to  act  with  ease,  certainty,  economy,  and  efficiency  in  any 
specific  way  is  acquired  mainly  hy  acting  in  that  specific  way.  One  learns  to 
do  by  doing. 

3.  Power  to  act  wisely  and  forcefully  in  discharging  one's  civic,  economic, 
and  the  other  social  responsibilities  of  today  demands  power  to  think  in  terms 
of  general  principles  as  applied  to  concrete  situations.  Power  to  think,  judge, 
and  decide  must  therefore  be  a  proximate  objective  of  education.  This  means 
not  merely  knowledge  of  general  principles,  but  skill  in  applying  such  principles 
to  practical  situations. 


SOCIAL  STUDIES  53 

4.  The  general  principles  of  society  can  have  meaning,  significance,  or 
value  for  one  only  as  they  grow  up  out  of  the  concrete  experiences  in  which  they 
manifest  themselves. 

5.  General  principles  cannot  be  taught  through  mere  verbal  presentation  of 
them — not  even  with  the  best  of  the  illustrations  and  explanations  of  "  teaching." 
Generalizations  in  the  mind  must  grow  out  of  concrete  experiences;  they 
cannot  be  manufactured  by  any  easy  verbal  "teaching"  process.  The  thing 
mainly  needed  by  the  students  is  not  teaching  but  experience. 

6.  Development  of  the  social  knowledge  needed — that  of  social  principles 
— therefore  demands  first  and  foremost  the  provision  and  utilization  of  oppor- 
tunities for  social  experiences. 

7.  The  social  experiences  needed  exist  upon  two  levels:  (i)  the  level  of 
intellectual  and  social  play;  (2)  the  level  of  work. 

8.  Both  play  and  work  levels  are  indispensable.  Both  need  to  be  fully 
developed.    Neither  can  perform  the  function  of  the  other. 

9.  Play  experiences  provide  the  broad,  rich  background  of  social  under- 
standing, interests,  attitudes,  sympathies  and  antipathies,  likes  and  dislikes, 
sense  of  proportion,  social  vision  and  perspective,  etc. 

10.  Work  experiences  of  civic  type  are  to  develop  skill,  forcefulness,  sense 
of  responsibility,  etc.,  in  performing  the  actual  civic  functions  of  the  citizen. 

11.  Play  and  work  experiences  in  this  field  need  to  be  clearly  distinguished 
in  order  that  play  should  be  play  and  work  should  be  work;  in  order  that  the 
present  usual  relatively  useless  hybrid  which  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
may  be  supplanted  by  things  genuine  and  effective. 

12.  The  background  training  of  the  play  level  necessarily  precedes  the 
specific  training  of  the  work  level.  This  does  not  mean  that  one  will  be 
finished  before  the  other  begins.  The  two  will  run  alongside  throughout 
the  high  school,  the  one  continually  laying  the  foundation  for  the  other. 

13.  The  social  experiences  upon  the  play  level  will  be  entering  into  the 
experiences  of  social  groups: 

i)  Through  participation  [sometimes]. 

2)  "      observation  [more  frequently]. 

3)  "      reading  [abundant]. 

4)  "      conversation,  etc. 

14.  There  are  many  groups,  formed  on  different  bases.  Boys  and  girls 
are  to  enter  abundantly  into  the  experiences  of  all  kinds  of  groups. 

15.  The  central  concrete  realities  with  which  the  students  are  to  be  con- 
cerned primarily  are  the  social  groups,  territorial  and  functional. 

16.  The  boys  and  girls  should  so  enter  into  the  experiences  of  social  groups 
as  to  become  familiar  with  their  composition,  social  situation  and  relationships, 
purposes,  ambitions,  motivating  forces,  duties,  rights,  responsibilities,  services, 
needs,  etc. 

17.  They  will  become  familiar  with  these  things  through  experiencing  the 
group  life,  not  by  coldly  studying  abstractions  about  the  group.    Primarily  they 


54  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

will  live — and  learn  by  living;   not  learn  in  the  impossible  way  of  memorizing 
verbal  abstractions. 

1 8.  Abstracted  aspects  of  society  are  not  to  be  the  central  things  of  the 
educational  process. 

19.  Experiencing  the  affairs  of  a  group — territorial  or  functional — at  the 
different  stages  of  its  career  is  to  see  it  historically. 

20.  Viewing  those  experiences  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  physical 
controls  of  the  general  environment  is  to  view  it  geographically. 

21.  Singling  out  the  economic  factors  of  the  composite  group-experiences 
is  to  view  the  group  affairs  economically. 

22.  Singling  out  the  political  science  factors  is  to  view  it  politically. 

23.  Viewing  the  group  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  composite  of  social 
factors,  influences,  and  relations  is  to  view  it  sociologically. 

24.  Whatever  the  aspect  studied,  the  concrete  reality  before  one  should 
always  and  clearly  be  the  social  group,  or  groups. 

25.  It  is  desirable  that  territorial  groups — localities,  states,  nations, 
regions,  etc. — be  severally  and  collectively  viewed  from  these  various  points 
of  view. 

26.  It  is  likewise  desirable  that  functional  groups — economic  groups, 
religious  groups,  political  groups,  etc. — be  viewed  severally  and  collectively 
from  the  various  points  of  view. 

27.  The  group-experience  in  the  concrete  should  be  the  central  thing  in 
consciousness  in  considering  any  one  of  the  several  aspects  of  this  experience. 

28.  Out  of  the  concrete  experiences  with  groups  should  grow  up  generaliza- 
tions and  principles  which  should  be  formulated  and  stated  as  exactly  as  practi- 
cable. For  convenience  these  may  be  classified  as  economic  principles, 
political  principles,  geographical  principles,  etc.  This,  however,  is  the  culmina-- 
tion  of  the  process;  and  comes  after  the  concrete  experiences. 

29.  As  general  principles  are  formulated  out  of  the  concrete  experiences  of 
groups,  general  readings  in  principles  of  economics  can  be  of  assistance  in 
formulating  economic  generalizations;  in  principles  of  political  science  for 
generalizations  in  that  field;  in  principles  of  geography  for  generalizing  the 
geographic  controls;  etc.  Such  books,  however,  must  be  aids,  not  bases, 
of  study. 

30.  General  principles  will  not  be  formulated  at  any  one  stage  in  the 
studies;  they  will  be  gradually  formulated  as  the  basic  experience  accumulates, 
and  as  pupils  become  sufficiently  mature. 

31.  General  principles  once  formulated  will  be  used  and  tested  over  and 
over  again  as  studies  of  still  other  concrete  groups  are  undertaken.  Thus  they 
are  further  developed,  and  mentally  assimilated. 

32.  Except  as  one  observes  and  participates  directly,  the  basic  concrete 
social  experience  will  be  history.  Along  witli  this  will  go  literature  and  travels. 
Into  this  narrative  reconstruction  of  experience  will  be  woven  such  description, 
exposition,  and  other  explanatory  material  as  needed ;  and  continually,  though 
never  obtrusively,  the  generalizations. 


SOCIAL  STUDIES  55 

$S-  The  fruit  of  these  educational  experiences  is  to  be  the  enriched  and 
generahzed  social  mind;  not  a  mere  walking  encyclopedia  of  social  facts. 
The  thing  desired  is  power — ^power  to  think  and  feel  and  act;  not  mere  power 
to  regurgitate  undigested  facts  in  verbal  form. 

34.  The  enriched  and  informed  social  mind  is  not  the  ultimate  objective 
of  social  training.  It  is  the  ultimate  objective  of  the  training  on  the  play  level. 
But  this  latter  then  looks  to  the  farther  objective  of  the  work  level — viz., 
power  to  discharge  one's  civic  responsibilities. 

35.  Specific  powers  to  perform  the  specific  functions  of  the  efiicient  citizen 
are  mainly  to  be  developed  by  actual  functioning  upon  the  work  level. 

36.  Activities  cannot  be  genuinely  upon  the  work  level  except  as  they 
involve  felt  sense  oj  responsibility. 

37.  Civic  responsibiHty  rests  primarily  upon  the  adult  citizens  and  not 
upon  adolescent  boys  and  girls;  if  the  latter  are  to  bear  genuine  civic  responsi- 
bility in  order  that  work  experiences  be  genuine  work  and  not  academic 
make-believe,  then  the  adults  must  share  certain  of  their  civic  responsibilities 
in  sufficient  measure  for  training  purposes.  Civic  sense  of  responsibility  is 
not  to  be  developed  in  a  social  vacuum.  Reference  is  not  here  made  to  the 
pupil's  sharing  in  the  labors  of  the  specialized  service  agencies.  These  are 
specialized  vocations  into  which  he  cannot  really  enter.  We  refer  to  sharing 
in  the  labors  of  the  lay  citizens  in  general  in  discharging  their  civic  responsi- 
bilities. 

^^.  Public  opinion  is  the  fundamental  controlling  social  force.  To  gather, 
organize,  and  present  facts  needed  for  developing,  maintaining,  and  focusing 
public  opinion  is  to  perform  tasks  on  the  work  level.  The  tasks  involved 
relative  to  any  agency  are  very  numerous,  and  the  agencies  are  equally 
numerous.  The  work  opportunity  is,  therefore,  inexhaustible  in  amount. 
[See  objective  No.  2  above.] 

39.  On  the  work  level  the  tasks  are  to  be  performed  with  all  possible 
exactness  and  thoroughness. 

40.  Facts  to  be  gathered  relative  to  any  specialized  service  agency  should 
be  largely  in  quantitative  terms.  Civic  studies  should  be  as  mathematical  as 
physics  or  engineering. 

41.  Outside  of  one's  vocation  and  one's  unspecialized  practical  activities, 
one's  mathematical  thinking  will  be  mainly  in  connection  with  one's  civic 
responsibilities. 

42.  The  mathematics  of  civic  and  economic  thinking  will  be  mainly  applied 
arithmetic  and  statistical  method;  and  taught  by  the  teachers  of  civics  and 
economics  as  an  aspect  of  the  handling  of  their  problems. 

43.  On  the  work  level,  students  will  make  surveys  of  matters  involved  in 
civic,  economic,  and  other  social  fields,  and  prepare  statistical  tables,  charts, 
diagrams,  etc.,  for  general  community  purposes. 

44.  As  pupils  make  analyses  and  interpretations  on  the  work  level,  they 
will  continually  use  for  guidance,  and  as  the  fundamentals  of  their  thought. 


56  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

the  general  principles  which  were  the  outcomes  of  the  social  studies  on  the 
play  level. 

45.  The  programs  of  social  studies  and  of  literature  and  general  reading 
need  to  be  drawn  up  together  as  portions  of  one  program  of  experiences. 

46.  Fiill  social  training  should  be  required  of  all  pupils  in  every  year  of  their 
general  training. 

47.  On  the  side  of  one's  general  [not  vocational]  training,  the  social  studies 
and  training  for  each  year  of  the  course  should  receive  a  generous  allotment 
of  time — the  largest  on  the  program. 

History 

100.  Teachers  of  history  should  answer  the  following  question  as  definitely 
and  completely  as  practicable:  What  specific  thinking,  judging,  feeling, 
deciding,  etc.,  should  be  done  by  the  men  and  women  of  the  city  that  should 
involve  matters  which  are  the  fruits  of  experience  and  study  in  the  fields  of 
history  ? 

loi.  History  is  primarily  a  thing  to  be  used  for  the  sake  of  the  concrete 
social  experiences;  only  secondarily  is  it  a  thing  to  be  studied. 

102.  History  is  not  to  be  studied  in  the  sense  of  memorizing  the  facts. 
It  is  to  be  studied  for  the  purpose  of  discerning  the  forces  and  influences  at 
work  in  the  world,  and  the  laws  governing  the  action  of  those  forces.  History 
is  to  be  studied  for  the  generalizations.  The  study  is  to  be  analyses — not  a 
mechanical  memorization  of  the  raw  materials  analyzed. 

103.  Study,  of  the  type  indicated,  must  be  subsequent  to  fullness  of  historical 
experience. 

104.  Historical-mindedness  of  the  kind  nowadays  greatly  needed  is  by  no 
means  identical  with  a  "mind  filled  with  verbal  historical  textbook  informa- 
tion." 

105.  History  as  fully  and  vividly  as  literature — though  not  in  so  personal 
a  way — will  present  a  reconstruction  in  imagination  of  the  experiences  of 
nations,  peoples,  institutions,  social  groups,  etc. 

106.  The  basal  history  experience  should  be  indirect  observation  and 
vicarious  participation  of  play-type. 

107.  Habits  of  doing  historical  reading  should  be  formed  in  youth  in  ways 
and  under  conditions  in  which  they  should  continue  to  function  during  adult- 
hood. 

108.  Education  for  mental  maintenance  during  adulthood  is  as  necessary 
as  education  for  mental  development  during  childhood. 

109.  The  primary  experience  in  using  history  for  general  training  is 
reading  it — abundantly — with  enjoyment — under  normal  reading  conditions. 

no.  The  historical  reconstruction  is  not  adequate  if  the  operative  geo- 
graphical factors  are  not  evident. 

III.  The  reconstruction  is  not  complete  if  it  does  not  reveal  the  operative 
economic  factors;  civic  factors;  sociological  factors;  biological  factors;  etc. 


SOCIAL  STUDIES  57 

112.  Out  of  the  concrete  experiences,  after  they  have  been  sufficiently 
abundant,  generalizations  are  to  be  arrived  at:  the  broad  movements,  the 
forces  operative  in  shaping  human  affairs,  the  principles  of  social  growth 
and  decay,  etc. 

113.  The  primary  question  is  not.  What  historical  periods  shall  be  taught  ? 
but,  What  social  forces  and  principles  are  to  be  revealed  and  made  instruments 
of  social  analysis  ? 

114.  The  needed  multiform  revelation  of  many  of  the  social  forces  requires 
that  they  be  shown  under  all  sorts  of  conditions:  the  very  ancient  past,  all 
subsequent  periods,  in  dififerent  countries  and  regions,  etc. 

115.  History  should  reveal  all  the  coimtries  and  regions  of  the  earth. 

116.  History  should  reveal  all  important  social  institutions  and  agencies. 

117.  The  experiences  demand  an  abundance  of  historical  reading  materials. 

118.  History  for  the  general  training  is  to  reconstruct  the  things  and 
experiences  as  they  were  in  their  living  form;  not  merely  to  present  the  frag- 
ments that  have  been  recovered  from  the  debris  of  the  past. 

119.  The  things  to  be  reconstructed  and  revealed  and  vicariously  partici- 
pated in  are  to  be  things  worth  while — from  the  point  of  view  of  the  needed 
type  of  mental  life  today. 

120.  There  should  be  much  discussion  of  historical  matters.  This  should 
not  be  a  mere  memoriter  and  thoughtless  question-and-answer  reproduction  of 
verbal  textbook  facts;  it  should  be  group  problem-solving  by  way  of  arriving 
at  formulation  of  generalizations  and  principles  on  the  basis  of  the  data  of 
experience;  and  by  way  of  applying  previously  formulated  principles  in 
analyzing  and  interpreting  new  data. 

121.  Clearness  and  accuracy  of  thinking  on  the  part  of  the  students  is 
possible  only  as  it  is  done  in  terms  of  language — expressed  or  imexpressed. 
The  unexpressed  is  likely  to  be  feeble  and  halting.  Only  thought  that  is 
expressed  is  likely  to  be  clear,  forceful,  and  adequate.  The  thought  will  possess 
these  quahties  if  the  expression  exhibits  them.  Teachers  of  social  studies 
will  therefore  demand  a  type  of  pupil  expression  which  reveals  clear  sequential 
proportioned  thinking. 

122.  If  there  is  to  be  much  thinking  then  there  must.be  much  ex- 
pression. 

123.  Those  who  read  a  foreign  language  should  probably  secure  a  portion 
of  their  concrete  historical  experiences  from  readings  in  the  foreign  tongue. 
[If  they  cannot  thus  read  their  foreign  language,  their  language  training  is 
clearly  not  a  success.] 

124.  The  ability  to  do  elementary  historical  research  is  not  a  valid  objective 
for  high-school  students. 

125.  The  objectives  of  history  and  Hterature  in  the  high  school  are  practi- 
cally the  same.  The  programs  should  be  drawn  up  together  as  parts  of  one 
general  task. 


58  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

126.  The  enlarged  and  enriched  social  mind  needed  today  is  impossible 
without  an  abundance  of  historical  experiences  that  reveal  mankind  and 
human  affairs  in  a  balanced,  proportioned  way. 

127.  History — local,  state,  national,  and  world  history — should  be  required 
of  all  students  in  far  larger  measure  than  at  present. 

Social  Geography 

200.  Geography  as  a  study  purely  of  the  physical  features  of  the  earth  is 
a  physical  science,  and  is  not  the  kind  here  meant. 

201.  Geography  as  a  study  of  mankind  regionally  distributed  and 
controlled  by  earth  conditions  is  a  social  study.  It  is  this  latter  type  of  geog- 
raphy that  is  referred  to  in  this  section. 

202.  Social  phenomena  are  very  largely  determined  by  geographical 
factors.  An  understanding  of  the  latter  is  necessary  for  social  thinking  and 
judgment. 

203.  The  way  to  learn  the  stage  upon  which  the  human  drama  is  enacted 
is  to  view  the  drama.  The  stage  will  be  sufficiently  seen;  and  under  circum- 
stances that  give  it  meaning.  If  any  portion  needs  to  be  seen  specially  clearly 
and  learned  specially  well,  it  is  aU  the  more  necessary  that  it  be  seen  i^n  relation 
to  man  and  his  affairs. 

204.  On  the  high-school  level,  geography  therefore  needs  to  be  an  aspect 
of  history,  literature,  travels,  and  general  reading — an  aspect  of  the  concrete 
social  studies. 

205.  Habits  of  reading  travels,  geographical  matters,  etc.,  should  be  formed 
in  youth  in  ways  and  under  conditions  like  those  in  which  they  should  continue 
to  function  during  adulthood. 

206.  All  historical  and  travel  readings — and  frequently  literature — should 
be  accompanied  by  full  series  of  maps  and  pictures.- 

207.  The  narrative  reconstructions  should  clearly  reveal  the  geographical 
factors  that  provide  opportunity  for  and  operate  in  the  "control"  of  human 
affairs:  the  nature  of  the  factors  and  the  results. 

208.  Most  or  all  of  the  physical  geography  needed  for  social  understanding 
can  be  introduced  incidentally  in  the  reading,  and  in  the  accompanying  maps 
and  pictures. 

209.  The  analyses  of  the  experiences  of  peoples,  nations,  institutions, 
economic  organizations,  etc.,  should  be  utilized  for  arriving  at  the  needed 
geographical  generalizations. 

210.  The  problem-solving  in  the  social  studies  will  aim  in  due  measure 
to  develop  the  geographic  generalizations  and  principles. 

211.  Geographical  generalizations  cannot  be  learned  through  merely 
memorizing  abstract  verbal  presentations  of  them — however  many  the  maps 
and  pictures  employed.  They  are  really  learned  only  when  crystallized  out 
of  concrete  experiences. 


SOCIAL  STUDIES  59 

212.  A  statement  of  geographic  principles  iand  generalizations  may  be 
employed  as  a  "help"  in  analyzing  one's  concrete  experiences  and  arriving  at 
one's  own  generaUzations.    It  cannot  be  a  substitute  for  the  latter. 

213.  Geography  of  economic  or  other  social  type  as  a  separate  abstract 
textbook  study  probably  has  no  place  in  the  high  school — unless  it  be  a  very 
short  summarization  course  given  late  by  way  of  summing  up  the  general 
principles. 

214.  To  omit  the  geographic  factors  in  the  social  studies  is  to  omit  things 
essential. 

Economics 

300.  Teachers  of  economics  should  answer  the  following  questions  as 
completely  and  definitely  as  practicable:  (i)  What  current  or  occasional 
economic  thinking  and  deciding  should  be  done  by  the  men  and  women  of  this 
city?  (2)  What  activities  do  they  or  should  they  perform  which  require 
efiicient  economic  thinking  and  judgment  ? 

301.  Economic  factors  are  involved  in  the  experiences  of  most  social 
groups;  and  especially  of  those  which  we  call  economic  groups. 

302.  To  be  rightly  seen  the  economic  factors  need  to  be  seen  as  factors 
of  the  total  group-experiences;  they  need  to  be  seen  in  situ  within  the  concrete 
situations. 

303.  Economic  forces  and  conditions  do  not  exist  separate  and  apart 
from  group-experiences.  Economic  "principles"  are  only  abstractions — 
drawn  from  the  concrete  experiences. 

304.  Social  studies  need  to  be  based  on  concreteness  as  fully  as  the 
laboratory  sciences. 

305.  The  experiences  of  most  groups,  territorial  or  functional,  are  not 
adequately  revealed  if  the  economic  aspects  are  not  made  clear. 

306.  Thus  revealed  in  the  concrete,  the  economic  factors  can  be  geneiralized. 

307.  Through  economic  problem-solving,  the  students  will  arrive  at  the 
economic  principles. 

308.  Books  that  present  in  the  abstract  the  "principles  of  economics" 
cannot  be  the  bases  of  the  training.  They  can  be  serviceable  as  reference 
helps — when  one  knows  how  to  use  them  as  "helps"  and  not  as  dominating 
influences. 

309.  The  economic  presentations  must  be  quantitatively  exact,  much  of 
it  in  mathematical  terms;  yet  not  facts  to  be  memorized  but  facts  to  be  used. 

310.  Much  of  the  pupil  experience  here  will  be  on  the  play  level;  much, 
on  the  work  level. 

311.  Pupils  should  observe  as  abundantly  as  practicable  the  economic 
matters  involved  in  the  community  Ufe.     [Intellectual  play  level.] 

312.  So  far  as  it  is  to  be  accomphshed  by  reading,  the  basic  experience  in 
developing  a  vision,  appreciation,  interest  in,  and  understanding  of  economic 


6o  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

matters  wiU  be  concrete  stories  of  economic  and  other  groups  and  institutions, 
and  stories  of  nations  that  reconstruct  their  economic  vicissitudes — all  on  the 
intellectual  play  level. 

313.  Habits  of  doing  general  reading  in  the  fields  of  economic  matters 
should  be  formed  in  youth  in  ways  and  under  conditions  in  which  they  are 
expected  later  to  function  during  adulthood. 

314.  Economic  surveys,  together  with  the  fact-organization  and  presenta- 
tion, done  by  the  students  for  responsible  community  purposes,  should  provide 
much  experience  on  the  work  level. 

315.  After  pupils  have  had  concrete  economic  experiences,  they  can  both 
generalize  for  themselves,  and  understand  the  generahzations  of  others, 

316.  After  the  student  has  grown  fully  familiar  with  economic  matters 
in  the  concrete,  they  probably  should  have  a  short  intensive  summarization 
course  in  the  principles  of  economics. 

317.  All  men  and  women  need  a  well-developed  economic  understanding 
and  powers  of  judgment. 

318.  Economic  studies  should  be  required  studies  in  the  general  training 

of  all. 

Civics 

400.  Teachers  of  elementary  political  science  [civics]  should  answer  the 
following  questions  as  completely  and  definitely  as  practicable:  (i)  What 
specific  political  science  thinking  and  deciding  should  be  done  by  the  men  and 
women  of  this  city?  (2)  What  specific  activities  should  they  perform  which 
requires  the  use  of  political  science,  thought,  judgment,  and  decision  ? 

401.  The  civic  training  of  men  and  women  should  be  designed  to  prepare 
them  for  definite  and  specific  practical  civic  action. 

402.  Civics  is  primarily  to  train  the  lay  citizen  for  the  performance  of 
his  lay  duties.  It  is  not  primarily  to  tell  him  what  senators  or  governors 
should  be  or  do,  or  what  should  be  done  by  the  police  or  streets  departments, 
etc.,  but  what  he  should  himself  do. 

403.  The  ability  to  do  civic  thinking  and  to  arrive  at  civic  judgments  is 
to  be  developed  in  youth  in  ways  and  under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those  in 
which  it  later  is  to  function  during  adulthood  as  practicable. 

404.  The  ability  to  act  in  civic  ways  is  to  be  developed  in  youth  by  acting 
in  the  ways  desired — except  for  a  few  effectuating  functions  hke  voting,  paying 
taxes,  doing  jury  service,  etc.,  which  clearly  immature  youths  cannot  be  trusted 
to  perform. 

405.  The  factor  of  social  control  is  an  element  in  the  expeiiences  of  groups 
of  every  sort.  An  adequate  presentation  of  group-experiences  in  the  concrete 
will  be  an  adequate  presentation  of  the  forces,  methods,  and  mechanisms  of 
social  control. 

406.  Pupils  should  observe  as  abundantly  as  practicable  the  phenomena 
of  social  and  political  co-operation,  control,  and  management  as  exhibited  in 
the  conununity  life  of  city,  county,  and  state. 


SOCIAL  STUDIES  6l 

407.  So  far  as  political  science  is  to  be  developed  through  reading,  the 
basic  materials  will  be  concrete  stories  that  reconstruct  the  political  experiences 
of  cities,  countries,  states,  nations,  social  institutions,  etc. 

408.  Pupils  should  do  part-time  work  along  with  the  adults  of  their 
community  in  performing  tasks  involved  in  directorial  and  inspectorial  civic 
functions,  as  necessary  concrete  civic  experience.     [Work  experience.] 

409.  Discussion,  formal  and  informal,  oral  and  written,  must  be  a  large 
factor  in  the  civic  training. 

410.  Students  should  be  members  of  and  participate  in  civic  organizations 
which  are  engaged  in  doing  responsible  civic  work. 

411.  The  dramatizing  of  legislatures,  courts,  juries,  voting,  etc.,  is  a 
form  of  childish  make-believe  that  has  no  place  on  the  high-school  level. 

412.  After  pupils  have  had  concrete  experiences  in  the  field  of  political 
forces,  relations,  and  control,  then  they  can  both  generalize  for  themselves, 
and  understand  the  generalizations  of  others. 

413.  The  principles  of  social  control  are  not  to  be  learned  by  memorizing 
abstract  verbal  statements  of  them;  but  by  seeing  the  social  forces,  processes^ 
and  mechanisms  in  concrete  operation,  and  generalizing  from  the  concrete. 

414.  Late  in  the  training,  after  students  are  familiar  with  civic  matters 
in  the  concrete,  they  should  probably  have  an  intensive  summarization  course 
in  the  principles  of  social  control. 

415.  Civic  understanding  is  of  urgent  necessity.  Full  civic  training,  far 
greater  than  that  of  the  present,  should  be  requited  of  all  future  citizens;  even, 
were  it  possible,  of  present  citizens. 

416.  Citizenship  training  should  be  continuous  and  uninterrupted  through- 
out the  high-school  course. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MATHEMATICS 

It  seems  that  the  department  of  mathematics  in  the  high  schools 
has  looked  rather  less  than  almost  any  other  department  to  the  actual 
social  needs  of  men  and  women.  It  has  found  the  usual  high-school 
mathematics  to  be  of  vocational  service  to  a  minority  of  the  high-school 
population,  and  on  this  vocational  basis  tends  to  prescribe  it  for  the 
entire  high-school  population — a  manifest  absurdity,  though  happily 
diminishing  in  progressive  school  systems.  Los  Angeles,  we  are  glad 
to  say,  has  advanced  far  beyond  this  point.  Yet  much  remains  to 
be  done. 

No  department  more  than  that  of  mathematics  needs  to  make 
clear  distinction  between  general  training  and  vocational  training  and 
to  organize  the  two  entirely  independently.  The  highly  differing 
mathematical  needs  of  dififerent  vocations  must  not  be  permitted  to 
dictate  the  content  of  that  general  training  course  which  has  no  reference 
to  the  vocation  into  which  one  goes.  On  the  other  hand,  the  general 
training  in  the  field  of  mathematics  must  not  serve  as  a  limitation  upon 
the  mathematics  prescribed  for  vocational  purposes.  In  view  of  certain 
of  these  difficulties  the  following  statement  was  issued  to  the  teachers 
of  Los  Angeles  as  they  began  their  considerations: 

It  is  probable  that  no  department  of  the  high  school  has  a  more  difficult 
or  baffling  problem  of  reorganization  of  its  activities  than  the  mathematics 
department.    Let  us  illustrate: 

The  city  has  decided  that  commercial  students  going  into  business  do  not 
need  algebra,  geometry,  or  trigonometry  for  general,  cultural,  or  disciplinary 
training. 

Since  this  is  a  large  and  representative  group  of  students  it  appears  to 
follow,  if  this  decision  is  correct,  that  students  in  general  do  not  need  algebra, 
geometry,  or  trigonometry  for  general,  cultural,  or  disciplinary  training. 

The  city  has  decided  that  commercial  students  need  full  and  intensive 
training  in  the  mathematics  of  their  vocation. 

This  probably  typifies  the  need  of  every  vocational  group.  It  needs  full 
and  intensive  training  in  the  mathematics  of  its  vocation.  But  the  mathe- 
matics wiU  differ  greatly  from  vocation  to  vocation  and  must  be  administered, 
therefore,  according  to  the  special  needs  and  as  a  part  of  the  vocational  training. 

The  vocational  mathematics  for  commercial  students  is  administered  in 
this  city  as  a  vocational  course  in  the  commercial  department. 

62 


MATHEMATICS  63 

This  appears  to  represent  the  proper  placement  of  all  vocational  mathe- 
matics courses,  not  in  the  general  department  of  mathematics,  but  in  the 
appropriate  vocatiortal  department. 

It  is  the  belief  of  the  writer  that  these  decisions  of  the  city  as  regards  the 
mathematics  of  the  commercial  students  are  educationally  correct;  and  that 
the  deductions  that  appear  naturally  to  follow  are  educationally  correct. 

If  this  is  true,  then  algebra,  geometry,  and  trigonometry  have  justifiable 
place  in  the  curriculum  only  when  they  are  necessary  portions  of  vocational 
courses;  and  in  such  cases  the  specific  content  is  dififerently  dictated  by 
different  vocations. 

These  statements  are  equally  applicable  to  those  who  finish  their  schooling 
with  the  high  school  and  those  who  take  additional  years  of  work  in  college. 
Neither  the  length  nor  the  place  of  one's  training  dictates  one's  needs. 

In  the  foregoing  statements  there  is  one  possibility  of  error.  It  may  be 
that  commercial  students  do  need  the  disciplinary  values  of  algebra  and 
geometry;  but  that  they  must  forego  them  because  of  the  exigencies  of  the 
time  schedule;  that  those  who  take  the  longer  training  of  both  high  school 
and  college  need  not  forego  them  and,  therefore,  may  secure  the  disciplinary 
values.  There  is,  however,  no  proof  of  the  disciplinary  values.  The  general 
intelligence-quotient  does  not  seem  to  be  raised  by  a  study  of  algebra  and 
geometry;  and  one,  therefore,  is  not  given  greater  power  to  think  in  general 
outside  of  the  mathematical  fields. 

The  college-entrance  demand  is  largely  dictated  by  the  disciplinary 
hypothesis — without  proofs.  In  far  larger  measure,  however,  it  is  held  to 
for  selective  purposes.  It  is  not  that  the  students  need  algebra  and  geometry, 
but  that  the  colleges  need  a  selected  body  of  students,  and  algebra  and  geometry 
have  been,  aside  from  classic  languages,  until  recently,  the  best  selective  devices. 
So  long  as  the  colleges  demand  them  for  this  purpose,  the  high  schools  must 
administer  them  for  this  purpose.  They  should  know,  however,  that  they  are 
doing  it  for  the  good  of  the  colleges;  and  not  because  they  are  demonstrably 
serving  their  students. 

The  teachers  of  mathematics  looked  through  the  entire  series  of 
abilities  as  presented  in  chapter  ii  and  selected  those  which  mathematics 
might  assist  in  achieving.  The  following  is  the  first  tentative  statement 
of  the  fundamental  objectives  as  drawn  up  on  the  basis  of  their  choices. 

I.  Ability  to  supply  the  needed  quantitative  aspect  of  the  thought  involved 
in  each  of  the  many  specific  activities  in  which  one  at  one  time  or  another 
engages. 

The  major  list  of  such  activities  [outside  of  one's  specialized  occupation] 
is  suggested  by  the  list  of  abihties  in  "Educational  Objectives"  [chap.  ii]. 
By  going  through  that  list,  one  can  discover  the  outlines  of  the  mathematics 
actually  needed  by  men  and  women  in  general,  outside  of  their  occupations. 


64  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

In  the  great  majority  of  the  activities,  the  only  mathematics  needed  is 
appHed  arithmetic;  and  that  of  simple  character.  Most  of  it  will  be  cared  for 
on  the  high-school  level,  not  by  the  department  of  mathematics  but  by  the 
department  whose  training  involves  the  quantitative  thought:  Teachers  of 
gardening  will  care  for  the  quantitative  aspects  of  gardening  thought;  home- 
economics  teachers,  that  of  home  economics;  teachers  of  civics,  that  of  civics;  etc. 

2.  Ability  to  read  and  interpret  statistical  and  graphical  materials;  to 
organize  and  express  facts  statistically  and  graphically;  and  to  do  one's 
thinking  along  many  lines  in  statistical  and  graphical  terms. 

In  its  purely  mathematical  aspects,  this  is  as  large  a  field  as  first-year 
algebra;  in  its  applications,  however,  to  modern  problems,  particularly 
economic  and  civic,  it  is  many  times  larger.  In  its  "pure"  form,  it  should 
probably  be  developed  by  the  department  of  mathematics.  In  its  "applied" 
forms,  in  the  departments  where  applied. 

3.  A  proportioned  intellectual  apprehension  of  the  subtle  abstract  world 
of  number  and  quantity,  with  the  necessary  accompanying  awakened  interests, 
appreciations,  etc. — the  proficiency  to  be  attained  differing  according  to  natural 
aptitudes,  capacity,  and  interests. 

This  appears  clearly  to  have  practical  value  on  the  level  of  specific  or 
arithmetical  number.  The  possibihties  of  high-school  arithmetic  for  general 
training  are  probably  not  completely  developed. 

How  far  the  training  can  be  profitable  on  the  more  general  algebraic  level 
for  people  in  general — at  least  the  brighter  ones — outside  of  their  vocations, 
is  not  known. 

4.  A  proportioned  intellectual  apprehension  of  the  world  of  form  and 
space-relation,  with  the  necessary  accompanying  interests,  appreciations,  etc. 
— the  proficiency  to  be  attained  to  differ  according  to  natural  aptitudes, 
capacity,  and  interests. 

The  mental  content  referred  to  is  best  exemplified  by  well-developed 
courses  for  people  in  general  in  form-design  and  mechanical  drawing.  The 
demonstrational  geometry  gives  but  a  little  of  the  world  of  form  and  space- 
relation  that  people  in  general  need.  On  the  other  hand,  the  drawing  and 
design  courses  rightly  constructed  can  give  all  of  the  concrete  geometry 
needed  for  the  general  training. 

It  is  believed  that  other  objectives  mentioned,  particularly  the  disciplinary 
ones,  are  incidental  to  and  involved  in  the  above-mentioned  ones. 

As  one  examines  this  series  of  objectives,  one  must  remember  that 
it  is  drawn  for  the  general  training  of  the  population.  No  attempt  is 
here  made  to  present  the  mathematical  requirements  of  the  several 
hundred  vocations.  These  requirements  must  necessarily  be  stated  sep- 
arately for  each  vocation. 

Since  the  foregoing  list  of  objectives  was  assembled,  the  report  on 
"The  Reorganization  of  Mathematics  in  Secondary  Education"   by 


MATHEMATICS  65 

the  National  Committee  on  Mathematical  Requirements  has  appeared. 
It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  the  two  methods  of  approach  to  the 
objectives  arrive  at  very  different  conclusions.  In  the  Los  Angeles 
study,  the  starting-point  was  the  functional  abilities  needed  by  the  men 
and  women  of  the  city  without  regard  to  subjects,  departments,  or  any 
other  of  the  means  to  be  employed.  Their  approach  was  such  as 
automatically  to  shut  out  purely  academic  objectives,  without  shutting 
out  anything  actually  functional.  The  National  Committee,  on  the 
other  hand,  seems  to  have  employed  no  device  for  neutralizing  their 
special  departmental  valuations  and  predilections.  As  a  result,  while 
their  objectives  include  those  suggested  above,  it  is  just  those  that  are 
least  valued  and  least  developed  in  the  discussion.  Their  major  objec- 
tives are  the  familiar  academic  ones.  As  one  reads  the  pages,  one  feels 
one's  self  wholly  within  an  academic  atmosphere,  and  never  at  any 
time  does  he  get  a  real  whiff  of  the  world's  actual  life,  and  of  the  mathe- 
matics that  actually  functions  in  the  real  lives  of  men  and  women. 

BASAL  ASSUMPTIONS 

The  basal  assumptions  which  should  probably  underlie  the  mathe- 
matical aspect  of  the  general  training,  as  stated  below,  are  intended  to 
be  those  which  underlie  the  general,  not  the  vocational  training. 

1.  The  mathematics  to  be  included  in  the  general  training  should  be 
determined  by  what  men  and  women  actually  need  in  their  general  affairs  out- 
side of  their  several  callings,  and  by  the  common  mathematical  element  of  all 
vocations. 

2.  The  major  thing  needed  is  not  ability  to  solve  difficult  mathematical 
problems;  it  is  rather  ability  and  disposition  to  think  accurately  and  quantita- 
tively in  one's  affairs.  The  latter  frequently  involves  mathematical  operations 
as  incidental  matters — ^never  as  the  fundamental  ones. 

3.  The  way  to  learn  to  think  quantitatively  is  mainly  to  think  quantitatively 
in  those  various  fields  where  quantitative  thought  is  possible  and  desirable. 

4.  The  ability  to  do  quantitative  thinking  is  to  be  developed  in  youth 
under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those  in  which  it  is  to  function  in  adulthood  as 
practicable. 

5.  The  ability  to  think  quantitatively  is  a  general  need.  It  should, 
therefore,  be  a  portion  or  aspect  of  the  required  training. 

6.  While  the  mathematical  operations  are  not  the  main  things,  yet  it  is 
indispensable  that  one  perform  the  needed  ones  with  certainty  and  skill. 

7.  Outside  of  their  vocations,  the  citizens  of  Los  Angeles  do  not  use  algebra, 
demon strational  geometry,  or  trigonometry. 

8.  Outside  of  their  vocations,  the  only  mathematics  content  really  needed 
by  the  men  and  women  of  the  city  is  applied  arithmetic. 


66  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

9.  Even  in  their  vocations,  only  a  small  percentage  of  the  citizens  of  Los 
Angeles  use  algebra  or  trigonometry;  and  practically  none  use  demonstrational 
geometry. 

10.  The  mathematics  needed  for  one's  vocation  should  be  determined 
strictly  with  a  view  to  that  vocation*  It  should  then  be  administered  only 
to  those  who  enter  that  vocation;  and  it  should  be  very  thorough,  especially 
along  the  applied  lines  involved  in  that  vocation. 

11.  As  fields  of  intellectual  play,  neither  algebra  nor  demonstrational 
geometry  lay  foundations  or  centers  of  systems  of  ideas  and  thought  generally 
needed  throughout  life. 

12.  As  matters  of  pure  general  discipHne,  the  city  cannot  afford  to  adminis- 
ter algebra  and  geometry  purely  on  faith:  the  specific  disciplinary  values 
should  be  made  clear;  and  it  should  be  demonstrated  that  they  are  or  can  be 
attained. 

13.  The  value  of  applied  mathematics,  intensive  and  thorough,  for  produ- 
cing power  to  think,  to  assemble  and  organize  facts,  etc.,  has  been  amply  demon- 
strated. 

14.  The  content  of  the  economic  and  civic  studies  needs  to  be  developed 
so  as  to  include  the  necessary  large  amount  of  applied  mathematics. 

15.  The  mathematical  element  of  the  science  studies,  particularly  general 
science  and  the  biological  sciences,  needs  much  further  development. 

16.  The  needed  mastery  of  the  world  of  number  is  to  be  attained  mainly 
through  using  number — not  by  studying  abstractions  about  number. 

17.  The  needed  mastery  of  the  world  of  form  and  space-relations  is  to  be 
attained  mainly  by  using  forms  and  by  constructing  forms  that  are  to  be  used. 
Studies  about  forms  needs  be  only  brief  and  incidental. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  see  after  another  year  of  work  by  the  teachers 
of  the  city  what  series  of  objectives  and  of  basal  assumptions  they  will 
have  worked  out  and  accepted  for  the  guidance  of  the  mathematics 
department.  Naturally,  they  will  be  much  handicapped  by  college- 
entrance  requirements,  particularly  those  of  eastern  colleges  to  which 
a  few  students  go  and  which  for  this  reason  have  tremendous  power 
in  dictating  the  training  of  all  of  the  students.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  college-entrance  requirements  tend  to  relate  to  what  the  high 
schools  themselves  propose  and  are  able  to  do.  It  is  well  that  the  colleges 
should  prevent  freakish  programs  formulated  on  the  basis  of  hasty 
superficial  consideration.  They  do  not,  however,  tend  in  the  long  run 
to  inhibit  progressive  movements  which  are  actually  justified  by  condi- 
tions. The  high  schools,  which  can  make  socially  justifiable  progress, 
can,  within  a  reasonable  time,  secure  all  the  recognition  for  their  work 
on  the  part  of  the  colleges  which  they  desire.  The  college-entrance 
bugaboo,  therefore,  should  not  be  permitted  to  serve  as  an  excuse  for 
inertia. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BIOLOGICAL  SCIENCE 

The  teachers  of  the  biological  sciences  went  through  the  series  of 
abilities  presented  in  chapter  ii  and  selected  those  that  should  be  aimed 
at  by  their  department.  Summarizing  their  selections  the  objectives 
of  the  biological  department  appear  to  be  somewhat  as  follows: 

THE   OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  perform  the  several  processes  involved  in  the  effective 
development  and  maintenance  of  one's  physical  efficiency. 

This  involves  many  specific  abilities.  [See  chap,  ii,  Nos.  101-49.]  Let  us 
specially  note  the  following  one: 

Abib'ty  to  see  and  think  one's  physiqtie — structures,  fimctions,  processes, 
relations  within,  relations  to  things  without,  capacity  or  potentiality,  develop- 
ment, protection,  maintenance,  etc.,  etc. — in  biological  terms. 

The  department  needs  to  scrutinize  carefully  the  specific  tasks  involved, 
in  all  their  multiplicity  and  complexity,  by  way  of  discovering  just  the  places 
where  thought  in  biological  terms  is  desirable  or  necessary;  and  to  list  the 
biological  matters  that  will  prepare  for  such  thinking — ^not  biological  matters 
in  general,  but  the  specific  things.    They  are  numerous. 

2.  The  unspecialized  abilities  involved  in  the  care  of  plants  about  one's 
premises.     [Nos.  330-^2,  335-48,  and  a  few  other  similar  ones.] 

This  needs  also  to  be  reduced  to  great  specificity  before  the  necessary 
biological  items  can  be  discovered. 

3.  The  unspecialized  abilities  involved  in  the  care  of  poultry,  bees,  live- 
stock, pets,  etc.     [Nos.  370-78.] 

This  is  of  less  general  serviceability,  and  therefore  is  appropriate  to  only  a 
portion  of  the  pupils.     Same  method  to  be  employed. 

4.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  observation  of  significant  biological 
phenomena  as  an  enjoyable  and  fruitful  leisure  occupation. 

5.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  reading  relative  to  biological  matters 
as  an  enjoyable  and  fruitful  indirect  method  of  viewing  biological  phenomena; 
also  a  leisure  occupation. 

6.  A  proportioned  vision  [according  to  one's  intellectual  capacity]  of  the 
biological  world  as  a  whole — ^plant  and  animal  series — as  it  exists  today,  and 
in  its  genesis. 

7.  Ability  wisely  to  control  the  several  biological  factors — so  far  as  control 
is  possible  or  desirable — involved  in  the  responsibilities  of  parenthood. 

67 


68  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

8.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  viewing  Man  in  world-genesis  and 
relation — as  a  major  foundation  of  one's  sense  of  human  brotherhood,  and  as 
one  of  the  most  inspiring  visions  of  one's  religion. 

The  biological  studies  can  have  minor  and  incidental  values  in 
achieving  certain  other  objectives.  The  basal  ones,  however,  must  be 
dominant  in  drawing  up  the  program.  If  there  are  other  basal  ones, 
they  should  be  included.  ^ 

BIOLOGY — GENERAL  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  Teachers  of  biological  science  should  answer  the  following  questions 
with  the  greatest  practicable  definiteness  and  completeness:  (i)  What  biological 
thinking  should  be  currently  or  occasionally  carried  on  by  the  citizens  of  Los 
Angeles  ?  (2)  What  activities  require  the  guidance  of  thought  which  involves 
biological  science  ? 

2.  Thinking  in  terms  of  biological  science  is  needed  for  the  practical  guid- 
ance of  many  activities,  and  for  producing  the  general  type  or  state  of  mind 
necessary  to  many  kinds  of  activities. 

3.  The  biological  program  should  look  wholly  to  the  desirable  current 
activities  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  city.  Nothing  should  be  included 
which  cannot  justify  its  existence  in  terms  of  actual  human  action  or  experience. 

4.  The  observational  program  should  be  large,  but  it  should  be  drawn  with 
a  definite  view  to  the  objectives  to  be  achieved. 

5.  Biological  phenomena  are  to  be  observed  where  the  observation  can 
be  most  adequate  and  effective.  This  is  usually  where  the  forms  are  viewed 
within  their  natural  environment. 

6.  Except  for  microscopic  observation,  most  direct  observation  will  be 
extra-mural. 

7.  Pictures  and  charts  will  be  abundantly  used  for  indirect  observation. 

8.  Except  for  the  concrete  alphabet  of  the  field,  obtained  through  direct 
contacts,  the  major  biological  revelation  will  be  obtained  through  reading. 
This  should  be  well  illustrated  through  pictures,  charts,  diagrams,  and  often 
supplemented  with  special  direct  observation  in  laboratory  or  field.  The 
reading  should  be  abundant. 

9.  Reading  can  be  an  effective  method  of  presenting  the  concrete  realities 
of  science. 

10.  Habits  of  doing  biological  science  reading  should  be  formed  in  ways 
and  under  conditions  in  which  they  should  continue  to  function  during  adult- 
hood. 

11.  The  major  biological  vision,  understanding,  interests,  appreciations, 
attitudes,  etc.,  are  to  be  developed  mainly  through  experiences  on  the  level 
of  intellectual  play. 

12.  The  biological  factors  in  human  history  should  be  clearly  and  fully 
revealed. 


BIOLOGICAL  SCIENCE  69 

13.  The  history  of  health,  disease,  and  sanitation  is  largely  a  history  of 
biological  phenomena.    The  story  needs  to  be  full  and  clear. 

14.  Historical  geology  and  historical  biology  should  be  developed  together 
in  one  vivid,  well-illustrated  narrative. 

15.  The  history  of  the  domestication,  variation,  and  improvement  of 
plants  and  animals  is  a  biological  story  of  great  interest  and  value. 

16.  The  biological  science  needed  for  the  objectives  above-stated  should 
be  required;  but  with  the  expectation  that  results  will  differ  with  the  capacities 
of  individuals. 

17.  College  courses  in  biology  have  not  been  drawn  for  the  general  education 
of  men  and  women — but  for  training  research  specialists  [and  incidentally 
teachers,  through  using  the  same  method].  The  content  of  college  courses 
cannot  serve  as  guides  to  the  content  of  biological  courses  needed  by  the  men 
and  women  of  this  city. 

18.  Merely  because  a  thing  is  true  is  no  reason  in  itself  for  teaching  it. 

19.  There  are  many  biological  matters  significant  for  college  research 
specialists  in  this  field  but  of  no  sufficient  significance  for  the  men  and  women 
in  general  of  this  city. 

20.  The  special  technique  of  the  biological  research  specialist  is  of  no 
value  to  men  and  women  in  general. 

21.  The  laboratory  methods  of  the  research  specialist  have  been  in  the  past 
much  over-done  in  high  schools. 

22.  Adequacy  of  thinking  in  this  field  is  inseparably  related  to  adequacy 
of  expression.  There  should  be  much  careful  well-organized  expression  by 
pupils  relative  to  biological  matters. 

23.  Much  biological  thought,  reading,  and  expression  should  be  quanti- 
tative. 

24.  Much  biology  should  be  "applied"  science;  much  should  be  "pure" 
science. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PHYSICAL  SCIENCE 

The  teachers  of  the  physical  sciences  selected  from  the  lists  of 
abilities  of  chapter  ii  the  following  as  the  objectives  of  their  department: 

OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  deal  effectively  with  matters  of  mechanics,  heat,  electricity, 
light,  sound,  physical  state,  chemical  constitution,  etc.,  etc.,  as  these  are 
involved  in  the  performance  of  unspecialized  practical  activities.  [The  detailed 
matters  will  be  discovered  by  scrutinizing  the  specific  items  Nos.  200-571  in 
chap,  ii — together  with  any  others  of  like  character  that  should  be  added. 
Also  i-a  to  53-a,  in  chap,  iii.] 

2.  Ability  effectively  to  deal  with  physical  and  mechanical  matters 
involved  in  health  protection  and  maintenance.  [The  detailed  matters  needed 
are  to  be  discovered  by  analyzing  the  abilities  Nos.  100-149  i^  chap,  ii;  also 
i-a  to  53-a.] 

3.  AbiHty  to  participate  in  a  civic  way  in  the  directive  and  inspectional 
pubHc  opinion  that  provides  the  ultimate  social  control  over  specialized 
service  agencies  and  labors  which  have  to  do  with  matters  involving  physical 
science  factors:  City  water-supply  system,  street  lighting,  street  and  road 
construction,  sewer  system,  ventilation  of  pubHc  buildings,  bridge  construction, 
fire  protection,  tunnels  and  subways,  gas  supply,  telephone  system,  milk  supply, 
ice  supply,  etc.,  etc.     [Nos.  600-610,  i-a  to  53-a.] 

4.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  diversified  observation  of  the  endless 
physical  phenomena  which  are  ever-present  before  one's  eyes  as  an  enjoyable 
and  fruitful  fife-long,  leisure  occupation. 

5.  Abifity,  disposition,  and  habit  of  reading  as  a  life-long  indirect  mode 
of  observation  of  physical  phenomena;  also,  a  leisure  occupation. 

6.  A  proportional  intellectual  vision  and  apprehension  of  the  world  of 
matter,  forces,  and  physical  phenomena  in  the  midst  of  which  one  lives  and 
acts.     [This  naturaUy  involves  interests,  emotional  reactions,  etc.] 

7.  Abifity  to  see  one's  environment,  sub  specie  aeternitatis,  as  a  vast  and 
restless  sea  of  forces  and  phenomena,  infinite  in  number,  subtlety,  and  com- 
plexity, and  unlimited  on  every  side — as  a  major  factor  in  an  enlightened 
religious  consciousness. 

The  foregoing  list  of  objectives  is  the  first  list  drawn  up.  It  is 
being  used  as  the  basis  of  departmental  discussion  by  way  of  improving 
it.     Thus  the  department  is  free  to  take  the  initiative  in  formulating 

70 


PHYSICAL  SCIENCE  71 

its  own  objectives;  and  yet  at  the  same  time  is  held  within  bounds  by 
the  abilities  and  other  personal  qualities  set  up  and  agreed  upon  by  the 
entire  body  of  teachers  and  supervisors  in  the  city,  without  regard  to 
the  work  of  special  departments.  Except  as  they  can  convince  the 
entire  body  of  the  teachers  as  to  the  need  of  other  abilities  not  yet 
included  in  the  comprehensive  list  of  chapter  ii,  it  is  not  probable  that 
they  can  greatly  extend  the  list — for  the  general  training.  The  objectives 
of  physical  science  for  vocational  training  is  another  matter.  The 
vocational  objectives  must  be  drawn  up  separately  for  each  vocation. 
This  task  the  city  has  not  yet  undertaken. 

The  assumptions  here  scheduled  relate  to  the  general  training — not 
to  the  specialized  vocational  training.  The  latter  must  be  taken  up 
separately  for  each  different  vocation,  and  first  by  the  specialists  in  the 
vocation  itself. 

PHYSICAL  SCIENCE — BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  Teachers  of  physical  science  should  first  answer  the  following  questions 
as  completely  and  definitely  as  practicable:  (i)  What  physical  science  thinking 
should  be  done  by  the  men  and  women  of  this  city  ?  (2)  What  activities  do 
they,  or  should  they,  perform  which  require  physical  science  for  proper  guid- 
ance? 

2.  Thinking  in  terms  of  physical  science  is  needed  for  the  practical  guidance 
of  many  activities,  and  for  producing  the  general  type  or  state  of  mind  necessary 
to  many  kinds  of  activities. 

3.  The  physical  science  program  should  look  whoUy  to  the  desirable 
current  activities  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  city.  Nothing  should  be 
included  which  cannot  justify  its  existence  in  terms  of  actual  human  action  or 
experience. 

4.  The  basis  of  all  science  learning  must  be  abundant  experience  with  the 
concrete  realities. 

i)Working  with  them.    Using  them.     Controlling  them. 

2)  Play  that  involves  them. 

3)  Observations  of  them. 

4)  Abundant  revealing  reading. 

5.  Practical  activities  which  involve  the  use  of  control  of  the  science  realities 
should  be  as  abundant  as  practicable.    [Fundamental  experience.] 

6.  The  observational  program  should  be  large,  but  it  should  be  drawn  with 
a  definite  view  to  the  objectives  to  be  achieved. 

7.  Physical  phenomena  are  to  be  observed  where  the  observation  can  be 
most  adequate  and  effective.  This  is  usually  where  the  things  are  viewed 
within  their  natural  environment. 

8.  Much,  possibly  most,  observation  of  physical  science  phenomena 
should  be  extra-mural.    This  is  the  observation  of  fundamental  type. 


72  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

9.  Much  physical  science  observation  must  be  in  the  laboratory.  This 
is  largely  of  preparatory  or  accessory  type. 

10.  Pictures  and  charts  will  be  abundantly  used  for  indirect  observation. 

11.  Except  for  the  concrete  alphabet  of  the  field  obtained  through  direct 
contacts,  the  major  physical  revelation  will  be  obtained  through  reading. 
This  would  be  well  illustrated  through  pictures,  charts,  diagrams,  and  often 
supplemented  with  special  direct  observation  in  laboratory  or  field.  The 
reading  should  be  abundant. 

12.  There  should  be  a  sufficiency  of  interesting  readings  that  reveal  the 
major  matters  in  the  fields  of  physics,  chemistry,  physiography,  geology, 
astronomy,  the  various  fields  of  technology,  etc. 

13.  Reading  can  be  an  effective  method  of  presenting  the  concrete  realities 
of  science. 

14.  The  major  physical  science  vision,  understanding,  interests,  apprecia- 
tions, attitudes,  etc.,  are  to  be  developed  mainly  through  experiences  on  the 
level  of  intellectual  play. 

15.  Habits  of  doing  physical  science  reading  should  be  formed  in  ways 
and  under  conditions  in  which  they  should  continue  to  function  during  adult- 
hood. 

16.  Much  physical  science  should  be  "applied"  science.  Much  should 
be  "pure"  science — whatever  the  mode  of  organization. 

17.  The  science  matters  should  be  approached  from  different  angles,  and 
seen  in  diverse  ways.  At  one  time  they  will  be  seen  as  organized  in  "pure 
science"  logical  fashion;  at  another  as  involved  in  the  composite  situations  of 
everyday  life  [as  in  so-called  "general  science"];  at  another  as  guidance  in 
practical  "projects"  or  activities;  etc.  As  one  adjusts  his  thought  to  the 
general  training  actually  needed  by  the  men  and  women  of  the  city  in  general, 
and  divests  himself  of  the  preconceptions  of  training  specialists  in  the  physical 
sciences,  it  will  be  found  that  such  a  plan  is  entirely  feasible. 

18.  The  history  of  technological  developments  is  largely  a  physical  science 
narrative.    It  should  be  full  and  clear. 

19.  The  training  in  science  should  aim  at  developing  life-long  interests, 
attitudes,  appreciations,  mental  alertness,  etc.,  as  fully  as  knowledge. 

20.  College  courses  in  physical  science  have  not  been  drawn  for  the 
general  education  of  men  and  women — but  for  training  research  specialists 
[and  incidentally  teachers,  through  using  the  same  method].  The  content  of 
coUege  courses  cannot  serve  as  guides  to  the  content  of  physical  science  courses 
needed  by  the  men  and  women  of  this  city. 

21.  There  are  many  physical  science  matters  significant  for  coUege  research 
specialists  in  this  field  but  of  no  sufficient  significance  for  the  men  and  women 
in  general  of  this  city. 

22.  Merely  because  a  thing  is  true  is  no  reason  in  itself  for  teaching  it. 

23.  The  special  technique  of  the  physical  science  research  speciahst  is 
of  no  value  to  men  and  women  in  general. 


PHYSICAL  SCIENCE  73 

24.  The  laboratory  methods  of  the  research  specialist  have  been  in  the  past 
much  overdone  in  high  schools. 

25.  Adequacy  of  thinking  in  this  field  is  inseparably  related  to  adequacy  of 
expression.  There  should  be  much  careful,  well-organized  expression  by  pu- 
pils relative  to  physical  science  matters. 

26.  The  science  thinking  should  grow  increasingly  quantitative  as  the 
pupil  matures;  but  the  mathematical  aspect  should  be  an  aspect,  and  not  get 
too  much  in  the  center  of  consciousness.  It  should  also  be  in  those  mathe- 
matical terms  in  which  one  will  later  do  his  mathematical  thinking  in  this 
field — applied  arithmetic,  in  the  main,  with  simple  numbers. 

27.  The  quantitative  accuracy  will  follow  considerably  behind  the  quali- 
tative aspects  of  the  science. 

28.  For  the  general  training,  extensity  of  vision,  interests,  appreciations, 
etc.,  is  more  important  than  the  intensity  and  accuracy  appropriate  to  the 
research  specialist,  and  to  the  several  vocational  fields  involving  applied 
science. 

29.  The  physical  science  needed  for  the  objectives  above-stated  should 
be  required;  but  with  the  expectation  that  results  will  differ  with  the  capacities 
of  individuals. 

30.  The  physical  science  understanding  should  be  a  gradually  expanding 
thing.    It  is  not  to  be  produced  at  any  one  period  in  one's  development. 

31.  Some  of  the  physical  science  training  should  be  cared  for  by  the 
departments  having  to  do  with  unspecialized  and  health  activities. 


CHAPTER  X 

PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  MAINTENANCE 

It  appears  that  the  objectives  of  the  physical  training  are  set  forth 
in  the  main  in  the  Kst  in  chapter  ii,  Numbers  101-49.  They  need  not 
be  reproduced  here.  Relative  to  their  objectives,  the  following  state- 
ment was  sent  out  to  the  teachers  of  the  physical  training: 

From  the  papers  that  came  in  from  teachers  of  physical  training,  it  is 
not  certain  that  the  list  101-149  is  approved  in  its  entirety.  It  seems,  however, 
to  be  approved.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to  set  up 
social  aims  and  general  intellectual  discipline  as  objectives  of  the  training. 
Doubtless  this  is  justifiable,  but  they  should  'be  secondary  or  incidental;  and 
cared  for  only  as  details  of  the  basal  program.  The  department  will  have  all 
that  it  can  do,  for  the  present,  if  it  will  adequately  care  for  physical  up-building 
and  maintenance.  There  are  plenty  of  other  departments,  each  taking  partial 
care  of  social  and  intellectual  training;  but  no  other  caring  for  physical 
up-building. 

We  suggest,  therefore,  that  the  department  confine  its  attention  to  the 
physical  and  hygienic  side  until  this  portion  of  the  problem  is  measurably 
solved.  After  this  is  done,  it  will  be  time  to  see  if  further  contribution  can  be 
made  to  general  mental  and  social  training. 

PHYSICAL  TRAINING — BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  Physical  development  and  training  will  be  the  center  of  interest  of  the 
physical  training  department.     Social  training  will  be  incidental. 

2.  Education  during  childhood  and  youth  is  preparation  for  the  mature 
life  of  adulthood.    This  applies  to  physical  education  as  fully  as  to  any  other. 

3.  The  first  questions  which  the  Department  of  Physical  Development 
and  Maintenance  should  answer  as  fully  and  completely  as  practicable  are:  (i) 
In  what  physical  maintenance  activities  should  the  men  and  women  of  this 
city  currently  engage  throughout  life?  (2)  What  thinking  should  they  do 
by  way  of  guiding  these  life-long  activities?  (3)  What  habits  should  be  fixed 
in  youth  ?  (4)  What  appreciations,  valuations,  attitudes,  and  traditions 
relative  to  physical  matters  should  be  developed  ? 

4.  The  physique  is  developed  and  maintained  through  exercise  of  function, 
normal  in  character  and  amount  and  under  normal  conditions. 

5.  Every  portion  and  aspect  of  the  physique  is  to  be  provided  for  in  the 
training  for  physical  development  and  maintenance.  Exercise  of  fmiction 
must  therefore  look  not  only  to  muscular  exercise,  but  also  to  nutrition,  oxy- 
genation, eliminations,  sleep,  temperature  regulation,  relations  to  micro-organ- 
isms, etc. 

74 


PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  MAINTENANCE  75 

6.  The  physical  training  department  has  too  much  speciaHzed  on  muscular 
exercise,  to  the  relative  neglect  of  other  necessary  matters. 

7.  Physical  education  is  a  matter  of  right  physical  living  throughout  the 
24  hours  of  every  day  and  the  7  days  of  every  week.  The  3  hours  [net]  per 
week  out  of  the  168  hours  of  physical  experience  can  accomplish  directly 
relatively  Uttle. 

8.  The  entire  30  hours  of  the  pupil's  week  at  the  school  plant  should  be 
utihzed  as  physical  training  opportunity. 

i)  Ventilation  5)  Diversification  of  physical 

2)  Lighting  experiences 

3)  Temperature  6)  Noon-day  meal 

4)  Physical  activity  7)  Etc. 

9.  The  total  program  of  the  school  should  be  drawn  with  a  view  to  proper 
physical  living  and  development  of  the  children. 

10.  The  138  hours  per  week  of  physical  experience  away  from  the  school 
plant  should  be  utilized  as  fully  as  practicable  for  physical  training  purposes. 

11.  In  all  hygienic  training,  doing  must  be  the  basal  feature — ^with  every- 
thing else  subordinate  and  focused  upon  the  doing. 

12.  Physical  experiences  of  "normal  living"  type  should  be  the  central 
and  major  feature  of  the  physical  training — and  utilized  in  maximum  measure. 

13.  Activities  of  preparatory  or  accessory  type  should  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum. 

14.  The  ability  to  do  hygienic  thinking  is  to  be  developed  in  ways  and 
under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those  under  which  it  will  function  in  adulthood 
as  practicable. 

15.  To  have  value,  talks  and  readings  relative  to  the  technical  matters 
of  hygiene  should  be  but  an  accessory  portion  of  the  practical  hygienic  activities 
of  the  individual  pupils. 

16.  General  talks  on  hygiene,  and  technical  readings,  unrelated  to  the 
individual  hygienic  activities  of  the  pupils,  can  be  of  relatively  little  value. 

17.  The  principles  of  physical  development  and  maintenance,  and  of 
hygiene  and  sanitation  are  to  be  intellecitml  results  of  the  labors  of  this  depart- 
ment as  fully  as  principles  and  generalizations  are  results  of  the  labors  of  other 
departments.  A  well-developed  generalized  understanding  of  things  in  this 
field  is  indispensable  for  proper  self-guidance. 

18.  Through  physical  examination,  analysis,  diagnosis,  those  responsible 
for  physical  development  will  discover  the  specific  training  needs  of  the  indi- 
vidual children. 

19.  As  fully  as  their  degree  of  maturity  will  permit,  children  are  to  be  made 
acquainted  with  their  diagnostic  analyses,  and  with  the  consequent  objectives 
of  their  physical  training. 

20.  Each  pupil  will  have  the  objective  of  his  physical  development  and 
maintenance  made  perfectly  clear  to  him  as  soon  as  he  is  mature  enough  to 
imderstand. 


76  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

21.  Each  pupil  will  keep  tabular  and  graphic  representation  of  his  activities 
and  degree  of  achievement  in  the  case  of  the  specific  objectives — until  habits, 
attitudes,  and  understanding  are  thoroughly  formed. 

22.  Major  features  in  the  administration  of  physical  education  should  be: 
i)  Definite  knowledge  of  all  specific  objectives  by  teachers  and  pupils. 

2)  Easy   and   dependable   methods   of   self-measurement   of   results 
achieved. 

3)  Complete  but  simple  and  quickly  read  system  of  individual  records. 

23.  Ajier  students  become  conscious  of  their  individual  hygiene  problems, 
they  will  listen  to  talks  on  those  problems  by  physicians,  nurses,  dentists, 
dietitians,  and  other  speciahsts.  They  will  also  read  fully  relative  to  the 
problems. 

24.  By  way  of  visualizing  health  factors,  influences,  processes,  etc.,  in  a 
proportioned  way,  and  in  their  social  setting  and  relationships,  pupils  will 
read  abundantly  relative  to  matters  in  this  field.  The  readings  must  be  such 
as  reveal  the  factors  in  vivid  concrete  ways  that  awaken  interests  and  hold 
attention. 

25.  For  normal  children,  the  muscular  physical  training  exercises  are 
primarily  to  develop  and  maintain  bodily  vigor,  strength,  endurance,  and 
health;  they  are  not  primarily  for  social  discipline. 

26.  For  normal  children  in  normal  condition,  the  value  of  a  physical 
training  exercise  is,  within  reasonable  limits,  approximately  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  energy  expended. 

27.  Physical  exercises  that  are  not  enjoyed  by  the  children  are  relatively 
unprofitable. 

28.  In  the  formation  of  habits  of  exercise,  full  regard  should  be  had  to 
the  matter  of  interest  and  pleasure  and  favorable  attitudes. 

29.  Habits  of  physical  exercise  should  be  formed  during  adolescence  in 
ways  and  under  conditions  in  which  they  are  later  to  function  during  adulthood. 

30.  If  "setting  up  exercises"  are  to  be  employed  daily  throughout  life  by 
individuals,  then  in  training  for  such  exercises  conditions  as  nearly  like  those 
in  which  the  exercises  are  later  to  be  had  are  to  be  employed  in  youth  in  develop- 
ing the  habits.    In  such  case,  home  habits;  not  school  habits. 

31.  If  group-gymnastics  are  to  be  employed  throughout  life  at  word 
of  command  as  a  means  of  physical  maintenance,  then  the  group-gymnastics 
are  to  be  administered  during  adolescence  in  ways  and  other  conditions  that 
are  to  continue  during  adulthood. 

32.  If  one  is  to  secure  one's  daily  exercise  throughout  life  largely  in  one's 
practical  imspecialized  activities,  then  interests  should  be  awakened  and  the 
habits  formed  during  adolescence. 

2fS-  If  physical  plays  of  diverse  kinds  are  to  be  the  things  upon  which 
adults  are  to  depend  for  exercise,  then  interests,  habits,  and  skills  are  to  be 
formed  during  adolescence. 


PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  MAINTENANCE  77 

34.  The  physical-development-and-maintenance  activities  that  are  to 
persist  throughout  life  are  the  ones  mainly  to  be  employed  during  adolescence. 

35.  Special  effort  should  be  made  to  develop  a  full  knowledge  of  the  need  of 
life-long  continuing  habits  of  vigorous  muscular  exercise. 

36.  The  boy  or  girl  who  has  found  ways  away  from  school  to  secure  a 
sufficiency  of  physical  exercise  of  proper  kinds,  and  who  will  keep  himself  up 
to  physical  standard  without  the  use  of  the  school's  facilities,  should  not  only 
be  permitted  to  do  so,  but  encouraged  by  giving  extra  credit  for  the  self- 
direction.  The  proof  should  be  maintenance  of  normal  physical  condition, 
and  continuance  of  normal  development  as  shown  by  periodic  physical  tests 
and  examinations — the  things  that  appear  on  his  physical  record. 

37.  Pupils  should  be  encouraged  in  every  way  possible  to  develop  ways 
at  home  and  elsewhere  away  from  the  school  to  secure  their  necessary  amount 
of  daily  and  weekly  physical  exercise. 

38.  The  schools  should  provide  nothing  for  the  physical  development  and 
maintenance  of  the  children  that  can  be  as  well  or  better  provided  by  the 
homes  under  the  supervision  of  parents,  teachers,  and  nurses. 

39.  The  away-from-school  physical  play  should  have  the  stimulation  and 
supervisory  influence  of  the  measurement  and  record  of  physical  achieve- 
ment. 

40.  Owing  to  the  frequent  or  usual  paucity  of  opportunity  at  home  or 
otherwhere  in  the  neighborhood,  the  schools  should  provide  such  physical 
development  opportunities  as  they  can. 

41.  The  physical  training  spaces  should  be'  given  over  most  to  those  of 
greatest  educational  need  of  them:  (i)  Those  who  have  least  opportunity 
away  from  the  school;  and  (2)  those  in  greatest  physical  need  of  the  training 
experience. 

42.  The  boys  of  the  type  who  go  on  the  interscholastic  teams  are  probably 
less  in  need  of  physical  training  at  pubhc  expense  than  the  average  of  high- 
school  boys  and  girls.  They  should  therefore  probably  have  correspondingly 
less  use  of  the  physical  training  fields  and  equipment  and  of  the  publicly 
paid  teachers'  time. 

43.  While  there  is  much  in  favor  of  interscholastic  athletic  games /^r  the 
hoys  who  participate,  these  games  must  be  judged — from  the  public-school  point 
of  view — from  their  relation  to  the  educational  needs  of  the  entire  student 
body. 

44.  For  the  sake  of  the  physical  maintenance  of  the  men  and  women  of 
the  commimity,  as  well  as  the  development  and  maintenance  of  the  boys  and 
girls,  the  physical  exercise  opportunities  of  the  schools  should  be  in  operation 
as  community  centers  for  seven  [or  six]  days  of  the  week. 

45.  If  physical  training  is  to  be  adequate,  parents  must  either  perform 
a  larger  amount  of  co-operative  labor  in  supervising  physical  development 
activities  of  their  children,  or  pay  a  far  larger  amount  than  they  now  pay  for 
getting  it  done  by  the  schools. 


78  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

46.  The  major  training  in  good  posture  should  be  a  holding  to  proper 
postures  [largely  self-directed]  throughout  the  day  in  all  one's  work  and  play. 
Effective  incentives  are  necessary. 

47.  Mental  alertness  and  normal  quickness  of  response  ought  to  characterize 
pupil-activities  in  all  departments.  It  is  not  certain  that  we  have  here  a  major 
justification  of  formal  gymnastics. 

48.  Self-directed  thought  and  action  of  efficient  type  is  a  major — possibly 
the  major — need  of  our  population  today.  Instant  and  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence to  the  verbal  commands  of  others,  on  the  adolescent  level,  where 
habits  of  self-direction  should  be  forming,  appears  to  operate  in  quite  the 
wrong  direction. 

49.  The  best  muscular  exercise  is  that  of  vigorous  play  under  normal 
conditions;  or  of  physical  work  that  is  enjoyed. 

50.  A  varied  play  program  takes  care  of  the  entire  musculature  in  a 
sufficiently  balanced  way. 

51.  A  varied  play  program  takes  care  in  a  human  way  of  all  of  the  desirable 
objectives  of  formal  gymnastics;  and  of  many  others  besides. 

52.  The  physical  training  one  receives  should  be  related  in  some  measure 
at  least  to  the  character  of  the  occupation  one  probably  will  enter. 

53.  The  development  of  student  leaders  for  squad  and  club  exercises 
should  be  fostered  in  every  way  practicable. 

54.  In  the  degree  in  which  the  physical  training  activities  can  be  effectively 
led  and  directed  by  squad  or  club  leaders,  it  should  be  so  arranged. 


CHAPTER  XI 

HOME  OCCUPATIONS 

It  is  uncertain  how  far  women  should  go  in  performing  home  occupa- 
tions, and  in  what  measure  they  should  turn  them  over  to  outside  special- 
ized industries.     For  example: 

1.  To  what  extent  should  a  woman  do  the  family  sewing,  and  to 
what  extent  should  it  be  left  to  the  outside  trades  ? 

2.  How  much  of  the  laundry  work  should  she  do  or  direct  in  her 
home,  and  what  portion  should  she  turn  over  to  the  trade  laundries  ? 

3.  Should  she  do  her  own  baking,  or  secure  it  ready  prepared  from 
the  bakeries  ? 

4.  To  what  extent  should  she  care  for  the  household  equipment 
and  contrivances,  and  to  what  extent  leave  the  care  to  the  men  of  the 
household  or  to  tradesmen  ? 

5.  How  much  of  the  gardening  should  she  do? 

6.  To  what  extent  should  the  parents  be  responsible  for  the  health 
of  their  children,  and  to  what  extent  should  the  matter  be  turned  over 
to  physicians  and  nurses  ? 

7.  To  what  extent  should  parents  be  responsible  for  the  training  of 
their  children,  and  to  what  extent  should  it  be  turned  over  to  teachers  ? 

8.  What  should  parents  do  by  way  of  providing  home  recreations,, 
and  how  far  depend  on  outside  amusement  agencies  ? 

9.  How  far  should  parents  care  for  religious  activities  and  trainings 
and  how  far  leave  the  matter  to  ecclesiastical  agencies  ? 

These  matters  must  be  considered  and  tentative  decisions  reached 
before  the  objectives  can  be  determined.  The  following  series  of 
objectives  appears  to  represent  the  majority  judgment  of  the  teachers, 

THE   OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  perform  the  household  clothing  activities.  [There  was  a 
majority  of  vote  in  favor  of  all  of  the  items  in  "Educational  Objectives,*' 
Nos.  400-437,  except  428.    A  few  further  similar  items  were  suggested.] 

2.  Ability  to  perform  the  household  food  activities.  [Every  item,  440-74, 
received  majority  sanction.] 

3.  Ability  to  perform  the  household  cleaning  activities.  [Every  item, 
480-506,  received  majority  vote.] 

4.  Ability  to  care  for  the  household  sanitation.  [All  items,  510-18, 
approved.] 

79 


8q  curriculum-making  in  LOS  ANGELES 

5.  Ability  to  guard  the  house  against  fire.     [Approved,  all  items,  320-28.] 

6.  Ability  to  keep  household  tools  in  good  working  condition.  [This  is 
the  only  one — No.  200 — of  the  200-213  list  that  was  approved.] 

7.  Ability  to  perform  activities  involved  in  the  general  planning,  manage- 
ment, and  care  of  house  and  equipment.  [Of  the  220-82  list,  the  only  ones 
receiving  majority  sanction  were:   241-43,  246-47,  259,  263,  and  269-82.] 

8.  Ability  to  operate,  adjust,  and  make  simple  repairs  upon  the  household 
electrical  system  and  appliances.  [Majority  sanction  was  given  only  to  Nos. 
301-2,  305,  309.] 

9.  Ability  to  care  for  the  household  financial  accounting,  and  to  perform 
the  household  financial  and  commercial  operations.  [Majority  approval  of 
only  items  552-54,  563-64,  566-68,  570-71.] 

Note. — Of  the  330-68  section  relating  to  gardening  and  other  activities 
about  the  premises,  nothing  was  approved.  Of  the  activities  370-78  relating 
to  care  of  dogs,  cats,  pets,  poultry,  etc.,  not  one  was  approved.  This  was 
likewise  true  of  the  series  380-95,  relating  to  travel  and  out-door  Hfe.  Other 
"Home  Occupations"  objectives,  though  not  necessarily  belonging  to  the 
department  of  home  economics,  are  probably  the  following:  (a)  ability  to  render 
"first  aid"  to  the  injured,  to  care  for  the  sick,  and  to  direct  and  take  the 
precautions  necessary  for  preventing  sickness;  (b)  ability  to  care  for  infants 
and  little  children ;  (c)  ability  to  lead  and  direct  in  the  recreational  activities 
of  the  home;  (d)  ability  to  perform  a  certain  portion  of  the  training  of  the 
children;  and  to  co-operate  with  educational,  vocational,  ecclesiastical,  and 
other  outside  agencies  in  accomplishing  this  training.  Where  other  depart- 
ments of  the  high  school  are  not  sufficiently  caring  for  these  matters,  there 
is  at  least  the  question  whether  responsibility  does  not  rest  on  the  home- 
economics  department. 

GENERAL  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  The  term  "home  economics"  has  not  the  proper  connotation  to  indicate 
the  chief  responsibiUty  of  the  department. 

2.  Training  for  home  occupations  is  needed  by  most  or  all  girls. 

3.  The  objectives  and  the  degree  of  proficiency  should  differ  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  homes  and  the  native  capacities  of  the  girls. 

4.  The  training  must  not  be  obligatory.  The  girl  must  be  attracted,  not 
coerced. 

5.  The  courses  should  include  stimulating  readings  by  way  of  developing 
interests  and  attitudes. 

6.  To  awaken  interests,  right  attitudes  and  sense  of  responsibility  should 
in  every  case  be  things  of  central  aim. 

7.  The  abilities  to  perform  home  occupations  should  be  developed  in  ways 
and  under  conditions  in  which  they  are  later  to  function  during  adulthood 
— so  far  as  practicable. 


HOME  OCCUPATIONS  8l 

8.  Self-directed  parentally  supervised  home  activities  performed  at  home, 
when  of  proper  character,  are  better  for  training  than  school  activities,  and, 
results  being  the  same,  should  receive  higher  credit. 

9.  The  school  should  demonstrate.  The  practice  should  be  obtained  in 
the  girls'  homes. 

10.  Pupil-tasks,  once  begun,  should  be  carried  through  speedily  to  comple- 
tion, even  if  other  things  must  wait  for  a  time. 

11.  Teacher-parent  co-operation  in  supervising  home-training  activities  is 
indispensable. 

12.  Home  projects  are  practicable  only  as  printed  guidance  materials  are 
available  for  students,  parents,  and  teachers. 

13.  The  training  should  be  devised  with  a  view  to  developing  power  of 
unsupervised  self-direction. 

14.  The  training  should  seek  to  develop  power  to  self- judge  the  character 
of  quality  of  one's  labors. 

15.  In  home  occupations,  practical  skill,  habits,  right  attitudes,  etc.,  are 
in  the  case  of  most  things  more  important  than  technical  knowledge. 

16.  The  home-occupations  training  should  not  aim  to  prepare  for  activities 
that  require  skill  of  high  degree,  difficult  to  attain  and  to  maintain.  .  Those, 
in  the  main,  should  be  left  to  outside  industries. 

17.  The  technical  information  given  should  be  that  which  is  actually  needed 
for  guidance  of  the  practical  activities;  all  that  is  needed,  but  no  more. 

18.  The  theoretical  information  of  appHed  type  needed  for  guidance  in 
the  home  economics  should  be  taken  care  of  by  the  teachers  of  home  economics 
in  the  applied  science,  applied  mathematics,  applied  design,  etc.  They  should 
be  able  to  presuppose,  however,  that  the  necessary  general  foundation  for  the 
applied  studies  had  already  been  laid  by  the  other  departments. 

19.  Technical  instruction  for  guidance  should  mainly  accompany  the 
practical  work  as  an  integral  part  of  it. 

20.  Technical  instruction  much  in  advance  of  practical  application  is  of 
little  value;   often  harmful. 

21.  Home-occupation  training  on  the  high-school  level  should  not  be 
"over-technical"  and  "excessively  wedded  to  book  and  laboratory,"  to  the 
practical  exclusion  of  home  activities. 

22.  A  thing  does  not  necessarily  cease  to  be  educational  when  its  informa- 
tional possibilities  are  exhausted.  The  informational  learning  is  only  prepara- 
tory to  experiences  that  lie  beyond  which  look  to  habits,  interests,  attitudes, 
abiUty  to  bear  responsibility,  and  a  general  condition  of  mind.  In  the  matter 
of  the  unspecialized  activities,  these  latter  are  usually  more  important  than 
the  informational.    The  latter  frequently  represents  no  task  at  all. 

23.  The  school  training  should  begin  about  the  time  when  the  girls  begin 
— or  ought  to  begin — to  perform  the  activities  in  their  homes.  It  should  not 
be  arbitrarily  determined  merely  by  way  of  mechanically  filling  out  a  program. 


82  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

24.  The  diiferent  types  of  home  occupations  should  be  organized  into 
intensive  short-unit  courses  to  be  given  when  the  girl  has  reached  an  age  to 
undertake  the  practical  labors  in  her  home.  After  the  short-imit  course 
is  ended,  the  training  will  then  be  a  matter  of  her  home  opportunities  during 
the  rest  of  her  school  life — for  practice  under  normal  conditions,  and  for  main- 
tenance. 

25.  The  things  to  be  most  emphasized  in  the  training  are,  all  else  being 
equal,  the  things  which  the  girls  do  least  well  in  their  actual  home  activities. 
The  diagnostic  method  of  discovering  short-comings  will  be  employed. 

26.  In  the  matter  of  clothmg,  the  abiHty  to  judge  and  select  wisely  is  at 
present  much  more  important  than  the  abihty  to  make  clothing.  This  apphes 
also  to  furniture,  house-equipment,  decoration,  etc. 

27.  As  the  purchasing  members  of  the  families,  women  should  be  competent 
judges  of  the  offerings  upon  the  market. 

28.  They  should  be  familiar  with  the  tests  or  criteria  to  be  employed  in 
judging  the  quahty  of  every  usual  kind  of  article. 

29.  Their  training  should  involve  much  observation  and  analyses  of  things 
used  in  the  home  or  by  members  of  the  family. 

30.  It  should  involve  much  reading  that  reveals  possible  qualities  and 
characters  of  things. 

31.  In  the  training,  there  should  be  abundant  use  of  pictures,  charts, 
diagrams,  etc.,  which  show  the  possible  qualities  or  characters  of  things. 

32.  In  studies  of  the  qualities  of  things,  the  problem-method,  and  the 
application  of  general  criteria,  should  be  widely  employed. 

2,S'  Education  should  aim  consciously  to  prepare  for  enough  home  labors 
to  off-set  the  disintegrative  effects  upon  the  home  of  over-specialization. 


CHAPTER  XII 
PRACTICAI.  ARTS  FOR  BOYS 

Distinction  must  be  made  between  those  courses  that  a  boy  takes 
by  way  of  preparing  himself  for  a  specific  vocation,  and  those  other 
courses  which  involve  or  deal  with  productive  industry  as  a  means  of 
general  training,  and  which  are  consciously  not  training  the  boy  for  his 
vocation.  Here  we  are  dealing  only  with  the  latter  courses,  which  we 
shall  call  the  practical-arts  courses. 

The  practical-arts  courses  for  boys — agriculture,  mechanical  arts, 
mechanical  drawing,  printing,  etc. — are  not  vocational.  Neither  are 
they  pre-vocational,  in  the  sense  that  any  one  of  them  taken  is  the  first 
step  toward  his  later  vocational  training.  They  are  pre-vocational  in 
about  the  same  sense  that  arithmetic,  science,  or  geography  are  pre- 
vocational.  They  are  portions  of  the  boys'  general  training.  This  is 
not  to  say  that  they  are  not  important.  The  general  training  is  certainly 
as  important  as  the  vocational.  These  courses  do  look  toward  work; 
but  it  is  the  wide  range  of  unspecialized  activities  for  which  one  bears 
responsiblity  to  himself  and  family.  It  appears  that  the  basal  objectives 
of  the  general  practical-arts  training  for  boys  are  about  as  follows: 

THE  OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  perform  unspecialized  activities  about  the  house,  basement, 
garage,  yard,  garden,  motor-car,  etc. 

[Possible  specifics  are  enumerated  in  chap,  ii,  Nos.  200-395.  The  lists 
can  be  considerable  extended.] 

2.  Ability  as  consumer  to  judge  the  qualities  and  values  of  the  products 
of  specialized  occupations. 

3.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  observation  and  reading  of  things  in 
the  world  of  productive  industry  as  enjoyable  and  fruitful  leisure  occupations. 

4.  A  proportioned  intellectual  apprehension  of  the  world  of  productive 
industry;  of  the  specialized  occupational  groups  which  compose  it;  and  of 
tools,  machines,  raw  materials,  processes,  products,  etc.,  involved.  Ability 
to  think  in  terms  of  the  realities. 

5.  Ability  to  choose  one's  vocation. 

6.  A  disposition  and  habit  of  being  up  and  doing,  independent,  active 
and  positive,  in  one's  home  hfe,  and  in  one's  affairs  in  general;  not  dependent 
upon  others,  passive  and  negative. 

7.  A  disposition  and  habit  of  holding  one's  practical  labors  to  reasonably 
high  standards  of  performance;  of  always  doing  one's  best.    Dislike  of  things 

83 


84  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

careless,  faulty,  incomplete,  etc.  [This  must  be  interpreted  in  tenns  of  the 
conditions.  The  general  practical-arts  courses  are  not  designed  to  develop 
the  high  degrees  of  skill  necessary  for  the  well-trained  vocational  worker.] 

In  the  teacher's  papers,  there  was  some  tendency  to  go  beyond  these 
last  two  objectives  and  to  set  up  the  entirely  general  virtues  of  honesty, 
accuracy,  sincerity,  truthfulness,  etc.,  as  general  discipline  objectives. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  Objectives  6  and  7  go  far  enough  in  the 
direction  of  general  discipline.  If  they  are  sufficiently  attained,  then 
probably  as  much  has  been  done  as  the  practical  arts  can  do  in  achieving 
those  still  more  general  virtues. 

The  assumptions  here  scheduled  relate  to  the  general  training — not 
to  the  specialized  vocational  training.  The  latter  must  be  taken  up 
separately  for  each  different  vocation,  and  first  by  the  specialists  in  the 
vocation  itself. 

BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  The  several  objectives  taken  singly  appear  to  demand  different  pro- 
grams. The  actual  program  must  take  all  of  them  into  account  at  once. 
It  must  be  a  composite  of  the  different  programs. 

2.  For  the  general  training  in  this  field,  there  is  no  reason  for  the  school's 
attempting  to  develop  any  high  degree  of  operative  skill. 

3.  Choosing  things  as  a  consumer  is  a  practical  task  more  important 
than  making  or  repairing  things  in  unspecialized  ways. 

4.  Operating,  caring  for,  adjusting,  and  repairing  things  are  more  important 
practical  operations  for  men  in  general  under  present  conditions  than  making 
things  in  unspecialized  ways. 

5.  The  theory  of  thorough  specialized  vocational  training  has  too  greatly 
dominatQd  most  general  non-vocational  practical-arts  training. 

6.  The  abilities  to  perform  unspecialized  practical  labors  are  to  be 
developed  in  ways  and  under  conditions  in  which  they  are  to  fimction  during 
adulthood — as  nearly  as  practicable. 

7.  Practical  unspecialized  activities  should  be  performed  at  home  as  fully 
as  practicable;  all  things  else  being  equal,  credit  for  self-directed  home  or  club 
activities  should  be  greater  than  credit  for  teacher-directed  school  activities. 

8.  A  thing  does  not  necessarily  cease  to  be  educational  when  its  informa- 
tional possibilities  are  exhausted.  The  informational  learning  is  only  prepara- 
tory to  experiences  that  lie  beyond  which  look  to  habits,  interests,  attitudes, 
ability  to  bear  responsibility,  and  a  general  condition  of  mind.  In  the  matter 
of  the  unspecialized  activities,  these  latter  are  usually  more  important  than 
the  informational.     The  latter  frequently  represents  no  task  at  all. 

9.  In  large  measure,  training  for  unspecialized  activities  will  take  the  form 
of  short  exploratory  courses,  and  thus  care  for  two  aspects  of  general  training 
at  the  same  time. 


PRACTICAL  ARTS  FOR  BOYS  85 

10.  Many,  even  most,  of  the  unspecialized  home  activities  that  are  used 
for  training  cannot  be  organized  into  short-unit  courses.  It  must  be  a  matter 
of  utilizing  home  opportunities  as  they  occur  throughout  all  the  years  of  one's 
school  life. 

11.  The  short-unit  practical-arts  courses  are  specially  helpful  in  giving 
a  boy  a  large  portion  of  the  concrete  alphabet,  so  to  speak,  of  the  vast  and  to 
him  endlessly  important  world  of  productive  industry.  The  ones  to  be  given, 
therefore,  should  be  in  part  chosen  on  the  basis  of  the  relative  importance  of 
the  occupation.  The  other  major  basis  is  value  for  unspecialized  abilities. 
On  these  two  bases  should  the  short-unit  courses  be  chosen. 

12.  The  short-unit  courses,  .so  long  as  few  in  number,  and  foimd  on  the 
junior  high  school  level  only,  can  be  of  relatively  little  service  for  vocational 
guidance. 

13.  The  "exploratory"  course  should  be  but  one  means  of  acquainting 
the  pupil  with  a  given  occupational  field. 

14.  The  theoretical  information  of  applied  type  needed  for  guidance  in 
the  practical  arts  should  be  taken  care  of  by  the  teachers  of  practical  arts  in 
the  applied  science,  applied  mathematics,  applied  design,  etc.  They  should 
be  able  to  presuppose,  however,  that  the  necessary  general  foundation  for  the 
appHed  studies  had  already  been  laid  by  the  other  departments. 

15.  All  of  the  unspecialized  practical  arts  for  boys  should  for  administrative 
convenience  be  included  in  a  single  department.  The  present  differentiation 
is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  theory  of  vocational  specialization.  But  this  is 
not  vocational  training. 

16.  Direct  observation  of  the  occupational  activities  of  the  commimity 
should  be  as  abundant  as  practicable. 

17.  In  the  training  for  consumption,  the  observation  and  analyses  of  the 
products  of  the  world  of  industry  should  be  full  and  abundant. 

18.  The  direct  observation  should  be  fully  supplemented  by  pictures 
which  reveal  the  world  of  productive  industry:  charts,  diagrams,  etc. 

19.  There  should  be  much  well-illustrated  technological  reading. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

VISUAL  ART 

Training  in  visual  art  for  vocational  technicians  is  for  technical  skill, 
and  for  the  understanding,  appreciation,  and  powers  of  judgment 
needed  for  skill.  Training  in  visual  art  for  people  in  general,  who  do 
not  need  it  for  vocational  purposes,  is  for  activities  they  will  or  ought 
to  perform;  but  rarely  are  these  such  as  require  any  great  degree  of 
technical  skill  in  drawing  or  painting.  The  schools  should  train  both 
groups;  but  the  courses  of  training  should  be  very  different.  This 
bulletin  relates  to  the  general  training;  only  slightly  and  incidentally 
to  the  vocational,  which  really  must  be  taken  up  separately  for  every 
vocation  in  which  visual  art  is  involved.  The  objectives  for  the  general 
training  of  the  people  in  general  of  the  city  appear  to  be  somewhat  as 
follows. 

THE  OBJECTIVES 

1.  A  proportioned  understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  world  of  form 
and  space-relation  as  everywhere  manifest  in  one's  visual  environment. 

This  is  to  be  interpreted  as  involving  the  awakened  interests,  the  normal 
emotional  reactions  of  aesthetic  experiences,  sensitiveness  to  matters  of  propor- 
tion and  disproportion,  appropriateness  and  inappropriateness,  beauty  and 
ugliness,  etc.  Degree  of  attainment  will  differ  according  to  natural  capacity 
and  aptitude. 

2.  A  proportioned  understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  world  of  color 
as  manifest  in  one's  visual  environment.     [Qualified  as  in  i  above.] 

3.  A  mind  enriched  with  the  imagery  of  the  great  art  of  the  world. 

4.  Ability  to  use  the  products  of  the  fine  arts  [of  visual  type]  as  sources 
of  needed  kinds  of  aesthetic  [and  intellectual]  experiences, 

5.  Ability  as  a  consumer  of  economic  products  involving  form,  color, 
composition,  etc,  to  judge,  select,  and  arrange  them  according  to  the  dictates 
of  the  principles  of  visual  art.  [This  refers  both  to  individual  and  collective 
or  civic  activities.] 

6.  Ability  to  apply  principles  of  form  and  color  design  in  the  performance 
of  certain  unspecialized  practical  activities: 

a)  Home  decoration,  arrangement  of  furniture,  etc. 
h)  Planning  of  garments. 

c)  Arranging  landscape  effects  about  one's  home. 

d)  Etc. 

7.  An  amateur  and  presumably  prevocational  ability  on  the  part  of 
carefully  selected  and  specially  talented  pupils,  to  draw,  design,  model,  etc. 

86 


VISUAL  ART  87 


BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 


1.  All  men  and  women  of  the  city  need  a  full  understanding  and  apprecia- 
tion of  what  constitutes  beauty  and  ugliness  in  form  and  color  in  the  things 
that  make  up  their  ever-changing  environment. 

2.  Visual-art  training — for  judgment  and  appreciation — should  be  required 
of  all. 

3.  The  first  questions  for  the  teachers  of  visual  art  and  expression  to 
answer  with  as  great  definiteness  and  completeness  as  practicable  are:  (i) 
What  thinking,  judging,  deciding,  etc.,  in  terms  of  form  and  color  should  the 
men  and  women  of  this  city  [outside  of  their  specialized  vocations]  be  currently 
or  occasionally  doing?  (2)  What  activities  should  they  be  performing  that 
require  the  guidance  of  such  thought  ? 

4.  Outside  of  vocational  training,  most  art  training  will  be  for  judgment 
and  appreciation,  not  for  skill. 

5.  For  one's  general  purposes,  the  main  thing  is  to  think  and  to  judge 
and  to  enjoy,  not  to  create  or  produce  art  forms. 

6.  In  this  field  as  in  every  other,  one  learns  to  judge  by  judging,  to  think 
by  thinking,  to  apply  general  principles  by  applying  general  principles. 

7.  Except  as  art  training  is  vocational  its  major  purpose  is  consumption, 
not  production. 

8.  Outside  of  certain  vocations,  and  possibly  also  outside  of  certain  simple 
geometrical  and  mechanical  drawing,  the  majority  of  the  men  and  women  of 
the  city  have  not  enough  need  of  practical  drawing  skill  to  warrant  the  necessary 
educational  time  and  expense. 

9.  Opportunities  will  be  offered  students  for  short-unit  courses  in  pro- 
ductive art  which  give  that  minimum  of  productive  art  that  is  helpful  to 
understanding,  and  which  give  an  opportunity  to  talented  ones  to  discover 
their  possibihties. 

10.  Except  in  the  case  of  the  talented  ones,  the  fruits  of  much  public-school 
drawing  are  practically  nil  on  the  productive  side;  and  of  relatively  little 
value  as  training  for  consumption  purposes. 

11.  Those  who  show  no  promise  of  skilful  execution  should  be  excused 
from  the  productive  side  of  the  training  as  soon  as  this  is  discovered,  and 
trained  merely  as  "consumers." 

12.  There  should  be  an  abundance  of  concrete  observation — studying  things 
in  the  environment — analyzing  them  into  their  elements — ^judging  them  in 
terms  of  principles — ^making  "visual-art  surveys"  of  many,  many  things. 

13.  There  should  be  an  abundance  of  fully  illustrated  reading  which 
presents  surveys  of  visual-art  possibilities  in  the  various  important  fields. 

14.  A  certain  amount  of  constructive  or  creative  art  and  design  is  necessary 
or  advisable  in  developing  powers  of  judgment  and  appreciation. 

15.  Classified  sets  of  pictures  of  things  to  which  principles  of  art  have  been 
appHed  should  be  used  in  making  surveys  of  possibilities. 


88  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

1 6.  The  ability  to  do  form  and  color  thinking  and  judging  is  to  be  developed 
in  youth  in  ways  and  under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those  in  which  it  will 
later  function  during  adulthood  as  practicable. 

1 7.  The  amount  of  geometrical  and  mechanical  drawing  needed  by  people 
in  general,  outside  their  vocations,  is  so  slight  that  for  reasons  of  economy  it 
should  be  cared  for  by  the  department  of  visual  arts. 

18.  Mechanical  drawing  needed  for  vocational  purposes  should  be  directed 
by  the  vocational  department  to  which  the  mechanical  drawing  appUes. 

19.  For  those  who  need  skill  in  creative  or  constructive  art  in  their  voca- 
tions, the  training  should  be  intensive  and  thorough. 

20.  Training  for  skill  in  creative  or  constructive  art  has  little  or  no  place 
in  the  high  school  except  as  it  is  definitely  vocational;  and  directed  according 
to  the  needs  of  the  particular  vocation  in  which  it  is  involved. 

21.  Amateur  art  work  as  a  leisure  occupation — except  as  it  is  a  feature  of 
unspecialized  practical  activities — ^has  little  or  infrequent  appeal  and  is  not 
particularly  fruitful. 

22.  Studies  of  art  and  design  as  applied  to  clothing,  furniture,  rugs,  etc., 
should  be  directed  in  part  by  the  home-economics  department  and  in  part 
by  the  art  department. 

23."  A  similar  division  should  be  made  in  the  case  of  commercial  art, 
printing  art,  architectural  art,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
MUSIC 

For  a  small  percentage  of  high-school  students,  musical  training 
should  be  vocational  training.  For  another  small  percentage,  it  should 
be  for  amateur  instrumental  or  vocal  production  or  interpretation  of 
relatively  good  quality.  A  much  larger  percentage  will  profit  from 
chorus  or  community  singing;  some  of  these  will  master  the  musical 
notation,  while  some  will  not.  The  great  majority  of  students — all  who 
are  capable  of  it — should  develop  an  appreciation  of  good  music  so  as 
to  be  discriminating  "consumers."  Some  of  these  will  develop  a  high 
degree  of  appreciation;  others  a  relatively  low  degree — all  according  to 
native  capacity  and  aptitude.  Finally,  there  are  probably  some  so 
entirely  lacking  in  musical  aptitudes  that  it  is  unprofitable  for  them  to 
give  any  time  or  attention  to  music. 

This  diversity  of  needs  and  of  power  to  profit  greatly  complicates 
the  curriculum  problem.  Really,  the  objectives  should  be  determined 
separately  for  each  of  the  different  groups  of  students.  This  the  depart- 
ment ought  to  undertake.  We  shall  here  limit  ourselves  to  stating 
probable  objectives  for  the  musical  training  of  that  majority  of  students 
who  should  learn  to  sing,  and  who  should  have  those  appreciations  of 
music  that  will  enable  them  as  "consumers"  to  select  and  patronize 
with  discrimination.  For  this  group,  the  following  appear  to  be 
objectives: 

THE   OBJECTIVES 

1.  A  mind  enriched  with  the  auditory  imagery  of  the  great  music  of  the 
world. 

2.  Ability — ^as  auditor  or  musical  "consumer" — ■judiciously  to  utilize 
music  for  healthful,  abundant,  and  varied  awakening  of  one's  emotional 
nature. 

3.  Ability,  disposition,  and  habit  of  participating  in  home,  chorus,  or 
community  singing. 

Note. — For  those  relatively  few  who  go  on  to  higher  levels  of  production, 
other  objectives  should  be  added  to  the  above. 

BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

I.  The  first  questions  for  the  high-school  teachers  of  music  to  answer 
with  as  great  definiteness  and  completeness  as  practicable  are:  (i)  What 
are  the  musical  experiences  which  the  men  and  women  of  this  city  [not  profes- 

89 


90  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

sional  musicians]  ought  to  be  having  throughout  Hfe?  (2)  Which  of  these 
are  so  necessary  or  desirable  as  to  warrant  preparation  for  them  at  pubUc 
expense  ? 

2.  An  appreciation  of  good  music  on  the  part  of  all  who  have  anything  to 
do  with  music,  whether  as  auditor  or  producer,  is  greatly  desirable.  Education 
should  therefore  make  as  great  contribution  to  the  development  of  a  wide- 
spread musical  appreciation  as  practicable,  all  conditions  considered. 

3.  In  the  case  of  the  majority  of  men  and  women,  singing  is  a  valuable 
type  of  social  and  physical  experience. 

4.  As  mechanical  methods  of  musical  reproduction  are  perfected,  the 
need  of  training  the  general  population  for  skill  in  execution  diminishes  and  the 
need  of  musical  appreciation  and  judgment  increases. 

5.  The  ability  to  experience  music  of  desirable  types  and  quantities  is 
to  be  developed  in  ways  and  under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those  in  which  it 
later  is  to  function  in  adulthood  as  practicable. 

6.  The  basic  thing  involved  in  developing  appreciation  of  music  is  hearing 
it  under  conditions  that  permit  full  and  appropriate  emotional  reactions. 
For  this  purpose,  all  things  else  combined  are  of  minor  worth. 

7.  Music  is  normally  an  aspect  or  accompaniment  of  social  activities  of 
many  types.  The  best  training  for  appreciation  comes  from  using  it  or  experi- 
encing it  as  an  aspect  of  social  experiences. 

8.  Only  secondarily  and  in  derived  way  is  music  a  "language  addressed 
to  the  emotions"  of  a  purely  passive  listener. 

9.  For  the  sake  of  normal  training  for  appreciation,  music  of  proper 
quality  should  enter  abundantly  into  the  general  life  of  the  school. 

10.  Home  player-pianos  and  phonographs  will  be  utilized  for  training 
in  musical  appreciation  as  fully  as  practicable. 

11.  Music  for  the  consumer  is  to  be  intellectualized  only  enough  to  enable 
him  to  select  good  and  appropriate  music  for  his  uses.  Not  structure  or 
technique  primarily,  but  emotional  [and  other  personal  and  social]  values.    . 

12.  In  the  main,  for  non-performers,  music  is  a  thing  to  be  experienced y 
not  a  thing  to  be  studied. 

13.  When  one's  mind  has  been  saturated  with  the  great  music  of  the 
world,  even  though  he  know  nothing  of  the  technique  of  music,  his  standards 
of  appreciation  are  automatically  pitched  upon  a  relatively  high  plane. 

14.  Pupils  should  be  made  reasonably  famUiar — so  far  as  ability  permits 
— ^with  the  criteria  to  be  employed  in  judging  the  worth  of  music. 

15.  For  individuals  who  are  not  responsive  to  music,  it  is  of  no  value. 
It  is  in  no  wise  an  ''essential"  for  them;  and  should  be  omitted.  To  force  it 
upon  them  is  to  waste  time,  money,  labor,  and  opportunity. 

16.  The  Seashore  tests  should  be  used  in  classifying  pupils  for  musical 
training. 

17.  It  is  imperative  that  pupils  of  all  grades  be  classified  on  bases  of 
aptitudes  and  objectives  actually  aimed  at. 


MUSIC  91 

18.  Time  is  to  be  found  in  part  for  the  pupil's  hearing  of  music  by  making 
it  accompaniment  and  interlude  to  school  activities  throughout  the  school  day. 

19.  Credit  for  musical  training  should  be  not  in  terms  of  courses  taken 
but  in  terms  of  level  of  achievement  attained. 

20.  If  musical  training  is  to  be  effective,  there  should  be  an  auditorium  at 
every  school  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  entire  school  at  one  time. 

21.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  securing  enough  expert  piano  and  orchestral 
music,  the  auditorium  and  the  main  corridor  in  every  school  should  be  provided 
with  both  player-piano  and  phonograph  of  best  type. 

22.  Those  in  training  for  vocational  or  high-grade  amateur  performance 
should  off-set  much  of  the  extra  expense  of  their  training  by  supplying  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  auditorium  and  other  school  music. 

23.  Training  in  singing  should  be  only  for  those  of  sufficient  aptitude  to 
profit;  and  of  sufficient  diligence  and  industry  to  master  it  without  undue 
effort  by  teachers.  All  others  should  be  excused  since  results  will  not  be  great 
enough  to  warrant  the  labor  and  expense. 

24.  The  fundamental  experience  in  learning  to  sing  is,  of  course,  to  sing. 
A  maximum  of  time  should  be  given  to  this;  with  accessory  training  reduced 
to  the  necessary  minimum. 

25.  Unless  singing  is  to  find  a  larger  place  in  community  life  than  now 
appears  probable,  it  is  doubtful  if  more  than  a  small  minority  of  pubHc-school 
pupils  should  be  expected  to  learn  to  read  musical  notation  for  sight  singing. 

26.  Pupils  should  learn  to  sing  a  great  number  of  the  world's  best  songs; 
but  for  most  pupils,  it  will  be  rote  singing  on  aU  levels  of  their  training. 

27.  The  standards  of  thoroughness  and  completeness  of  training  that  are 
justifiable  for  the  talented  ones  who  are  to  become  high-grade  performers 
are  not  to  be  set  up  as  the  standards  for  those  who  cannot  sufficiently  profit 
from  such  training. 

28.  Through  the  use  of  an  effective  method  of  measuring  and  crediting 
achievement,  pupils  will  be  encouraged  to  secure  a  considerable  portion  of  their 
vocal  training  in  club  and  home  singing.  Results  being  equals  this  should  have 
larger  credit — ^because  of  the  self -direction. 


CHAPTER  XV 
ENGLISH  EXPRESSION 

In  this  field  the  objectives  are  more  completely  agreed  upon  than 
in  any  other.     Basal  ones  for  the  general  training  are  the  following : 

THE   OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  pronounce  one's  words  properly. 

2.  Ability  to  write  with  proper  legibility,  ease,  and  speed. 

3.  Ability  to  spell  the  words  of  one's  writing  vocabulary. 

4.  Command  over  an  adequate  reading,  speaking,  and  writing  vocabulary. 

5.  Ability  to  use  English  which  is  grammatically  correct. 

6.  Ability  to  organize  and  express  one's  thought  effectively. 

7.  Ability  to  write  a  letter  according  to  forms  in  general  use. 

8.  Ability  to  use  good  form,  order,  and  arrangement  in  all  of  one's  written 
Expression:  capitals,  punctuation,  abbreviations,  syllabication,  margins,  align- 
ment, etc. 

9.  Ability  to  converse  easily,  agreeably,  and  effectively.  Ability  to 
utilize  conversation  as  a  profitable  and  enjoyable  means  of  participating  socially 
in  the  thought  of  the  world. 

10.  Ability  to  join  in  more  or  less  formal  discussions  of  topics.  Ability 
to  participate  in  public  discussion  of  current  social  problems  as  a  leisure  occupa- 
tion. 

11.  Ability  to  present  one's  thought  orally  to  an  audience. 

12.  Ability  to  present  written  or  printed  thought  effectively  through 
oral  reading. 

13.  Ability  in  speech  to  use  the  voice  in  ways  both  agreeable  and  effective. 

14.  The  ability  to  prepare  an  outline,  brief,  or  summary  of  a  lecture, 
article,  chapter,  or  book. 

15.  Ability  to  draw  up  or  fill  out  business  forms  in  common  use. 

For  the  general  training  of  a  minority  of  students,  those  with  the 
necessary  special  aptitudes  and  capacities,  the  following  appear  also 
to  be  approved: 

16.  Amateur  ability  to  do  literary  production  of  different  kinds. 

17.  Ability  to  take  part  in  dramatics,  theatricals,  pageants,  etc. 

BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

I.  The  general  training  in  English  expression  is  not  for  vocational  literary- 
production;  nor  for  any  special  type  of  English  expression  in  any  vocation. 
It  is  only  for  the  ordinary  oral  and  written  expression  of  everyday  life. 

92 


ENGLISH  EXPRESSION  93 

2.  The  first  questions  which  the  teachers  of  English  expression  should 
answer  accurately,  definitely,  and  completely  are:  (i)  In  what  ways  and 
under  what  circumstances  should  the  men  and  women  of  this  city  [outside  of 
their  special  vocations]  express  themselves  orally  ?  (2)  In  writing  ?  (3)  With 
what  degree  of  proficiency  ? 

3.  The  ability  to  express  one's  self  in  oral  or  written  English  is  to  be 
developed  in  ways  and  under  conditions  as  nearly  like  those  in  which  adults 
will  currently  express  themselves  as  practicable. 

4.  The  way  to  learn  to  express  one's  self  effectively  in  English  is  to  express 
one's  self,  within  normal  situations  where  one  greatly  wants  to  express  one's 
self  well. 

5.  The  preparatory  or  accessory  activities  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

6.  English  composition  has  been  too  much  for  the  purpose  of  making 
amateur  literary  producers.  This  has  stood  in  the  way  and  in  large  measure 
prevented  its  doing  well  the  simpler  things  needed  by  everybody. 

7.  The  English  expression  is  an  indispensable  aspect  of  the  work  of  all 
departments  in  the  high  school. 

8.  There  is  no  more  reason  for  tying  the  English  expression  up  with  the 
literature  than  with  the  history  or  the  science. 

9.  Composition  has  been  too  intimately  tied  up  with  the  literature  because 
of  its  aiming  too  greatly  at  developing  amateur  literary  producers. 

10.  The  basic  aspects  of  English  expression  are  the  same  whether  it  be 
oral  or  written.  This  being  the  case,  it  should  be  taken  care  of  as  one  thing; 
but  a  thing  of  many  aspects,  each  one  of  which  should  be  adequately  cared  for. 

11.  In  every  department  in  the  high  school,  there  should  be  much  English 
expression — for  the  sake  of  the  thought  or  content  side  of  the  department's 
work.  The  expression  should  be  carefully  organized  and  adequate — for  the 
sake  of  the  thought.  There  should  be  as  much  oral  expression  by  each  individual 
pupil  as  the  limited  time  will  permit.  There  should  also  be  a  reasonable  amount 
of  written  expression  in  each  department. 

12.  Those  dealing  with  the  realities  of  the  thought  of  the  pupils  should  be 
responsible  for  the  pupils'  verbalization  of  that  thought. 

13.  Careful  and  exact  thought  is  impossible  in  most  cases  without  a 
parallel  careful  and  exact  expression. 

14.  A  diagnostic  study  of  the  language  abilities  of  each  individual  student 
needs  to  be  made.  Where  he  reveals  weakness,  he  is  to  be  trained;  where  he 
is  already  sufficiently  strong  he  is  not  to  be  trained,  since  he  does  not  need  it. 

15.  In  discovering  the  language  errors  and  defects  of  individual  pupils, 
the  oral-speech  defects  of  pronunciation,  enunciation,  voice  quaUty  and 
placement,  etc.,  are  to  be  looked  after  as  carefully  as  any  others. 

16.  In  each  aspect  of  his  expression,  the  student  should  keep  a  record  of 
the  types  of  error  against  which  he  should  be  continually  on  guard.  His 
major  task  is  to  eliminate  these  errors. 


94  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

17.  The  entire  series  of  objectives  in  terms  of  ability  to  do  should  be  made 
as  clear  as  possible  to  the  students,  and  as  early  as  they  can  understand. 

18.  Each  student  should  keep  for  himself  a  continuous  record  showing 
his  progress  in  attaining  each  ability  in  which  he  is  deficient. 

19.  Students  should  be  stimulated  to  attain  each  objective  as  expeditiously 
as  practicable,  and  with  a  minimum  of  teacher-labor.  The  more  it  is  done 
without  teacher-assistance,  through  pupil  self-direction  as  proven  by  measured 
results,  the  greater  the  credit  that  should  be  given. 

20.  Owing  to  the  size  of  classes,  there  is  at  present  an  insufficient  amount 
of  individual  oral  expression  in  every  department  of  the  high  school. 

21.  Written  expression  can  be  made  sufficiently  serviceable  for  training 
purposes  only  when  the  writer  is  conscious  that  his  production  is  to  be  read 
by  or  to  others  whom  he  desires  to  please  or  convince  or  instruct  or  impress. 
He  must  write  within  a  normal  expression  situation. 

22.  As  expressed  by  one  of  the  teachers:  The  basic  thing  is  "the  upward 
surge  of  one's  whole  personality"  in  eagerly  and  earnestly  thinking  and  saying 
the  things  that  one  greatly  wants  to  say  by  way  of  affecting  the  thoughts  or 
reactions  of  others. 

23.  The  English  department  has  not  control  over  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  normal  expression  situations  to  give  pupils  enough  practice  in  normal  written 
expression. 

24.  The  auditor  is  as  necessary  for  normal  expression  as  the  speaken 
The  reader,  as  necessary  as  the  writer. 

25.  The  most  difficult  single  problem  of  the  department  is  how  to  bring 
the  children  greatly  to  want  to  use  a  good  quality  of  EngHsh. 

26.  Only  those  are  to  be  trained  for  vocational  literary  production  who 
have  definitely  chosen  this  as  their  work;  whom  studies  of  capacity  show  to 
be  fitted  for  it;  and  who  are  capable  of  a  large  degree  of  self -direction  in 
achieving  the  skills  and  understanding. 

27.  Training  for  amateur  literary  production  is  to  be  given  only  to  those 
of  proven  capacity,  aptitude,  and  industry — and  who  require  no  great  amount 
of  teacher-effort  and  assistance. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MODERN  LANGUAGES 

From  the  papers  that  came  in,  it  appears  that  the  basal  objectives 
approved  by  the  department  of  modern  languages  are  about  as  follows: 

THE   OBJECTIVES 

1.  Ability  to  read  the  foreign  language. 

2.  Ability  to  think  in  terms  of  and  to  write  the  foreign  language  easily 
and  correctly. 

3.  Ability  to  understand  oral  speech  in  the  language. 

4.  Ability  to  speak  the  language  with  ease  and  correctness. 

5.  An  improved  understanding  of,  and  sympathetic  attitudes  toward,  the 
people  whose  language  is  mastered. 

6.  A  habit  of  reading  the  literature  in  the  foreign  tongue  as  a  fruitful 
and  Hfe-long  leisure  occupation. 

7.  To  eliminate  provinciality  of  thought  and  to  develop  a  world- 
consciousness. 

8.  To  assist  in  laying  those  grammatical  foundations  valuable  in  one's 
use  of  the  mother-tongue. 

The  writer's  comment  upon  the  objectives  chosen  by  the  teachers 
of  modern  languages,  in  suggesting  further  consideration  on  their  part, 
was  as  follows: 

The  writer  feels  that  for  the  general  [non-vocational]  education  of  the  men 
and  women  of  this  city,  the  committee  greatly  over-emphasizes  Objectives  2, 
3,  and  4,  in  the  case  of  French,  and  of  any  other  modem  language,  except 
possibly  Spanish.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  taxpayers  of  the  city  are  justified  in 
investing  in  a  speaking  and  writing  knowledge  of  French  or  German.  A 
reading  knowledge  can  be  developed  inexpensively,  if  one  aims  only  at  that. 
For  those  who  will  achieve  Objectives  5-8,  the  profit  will  be  full  justification 
of  the  expense  of  developing  a  reading  ability.  These  objectives,  5-8,  do  not 
require  anything  more  than  the  relatively  inexpensive  reading  ability. 

Probably  a  reading  knowledge  of  Spanish  should  be  widely  diffused  among 
the  people  of  this  city  and  region.  This  would  easily  enable  most  persons  in 
the  city  to  write  and  speak  as  fully  as  they  really  need  to.  For  the  relatively 
few  who  need  for  business  purposes  a  high  degree  of  fluency  and  correctness  in 
speech  and  writing,  it  should  be  developed  in  connection  with  or  as  an  aspect 
of  their  vocational  training.  The  need  of  fluent  speech  for  social  purposes 
is  much  exaggerated. 

95 


96  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

For  the  French,  we  therefore  suggest  that  Objectives  2,  3  and  4  be  omitted, 
and  that  for  Spanish,  they  be  made  secondary,  except  where  they  are  specific 
objectives  of  vocational  training,  and  administered  as  such  to  selected  voca- 
tional groups;  and  that  the  reading  ability  be  made  the  central  objective  in 
the  case  of  both  languages. 

BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  A  considerable  percentage  of  the  citizens  of  Los  Angeles,  probably 
greater  than  at  present,  should  learn  to  read  French. 

2.  A  still  greater  percentage  should  learn  to  read  Spanish. 

3.  French,  Spanish,  and  English  are  not  the  only  languages  of  value  in 
developing  a  world-consciousness.    [Objective  No.  7.] 

4.  There  is  no  sufficient  warrant  for  teaching  the  growing  citizens  of  this 
city  at  public  expense  to  speak  or  write  French.  That  they  read  it  is  enough. 
The  very,  very  few  who  need  speaking  or  writing  knowledge  for  vocational 
purposes  should  secure  this  as  part  of  their  vocational  training. 

5.  Public  taxation  should  not  be  employed  to  provide  or  to  train  for 
mere  enjoyments  that  cannot  be  justified  on  a  basis  of  positive  social  values 
to  those  who  pay  the  bills. 

6.  Where  immigrant  children  in  our  schools  are  already  bilingual,  the 
schools  should  develop  both  languages.  This  is  the  class  of  students  from  which 
should  be  drawn  those  who  are  to  fill  vocational  positions  demanding  fluent 
use  of  two  languages.     It  is  the  only  really  practicable  method. 

7.  No  one  should  specialize  in  modem  languages,  except  as  it  is  vocational 
specialization;  or  a  phase  of  such. 

8.  The  student  who  requires  a  large  amount  of  teacher-effort  to  keep 
him  going  will  not  profit  sufficiently  to  warrant  giving  him  the  language. 

9.  The  basic  experience  in  learning  to  read  a  modem  language  is  to  read  it 
abundantly.    All  else  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

10.  Reading  should  begin  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  study;  and  it  should 
be  fairly  abundant  by  the  end  of  the  first  semester. 

11.  Translation  serves  no  sufficient  purpose — after  a  beginning  has  been 
made.  It  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  in  the  first  year,  and  omitted 
thereafter. 

12.  Modem  language  reading  experience  should  be  wholly  [or  mainly] 
on  the  play  level — pleasant  but  strenuous  intellectual  play — strenuous  because 
of  the  abundance  of  reading  to  be  covered,  not  the  steepness  of  the  climb. 

13.  A  forced  study  of  language  will  not  result  in  attaining  any  of  the 
objectives  mentioned.  If  not  mastered  on  the  play  level,  for  the  joy  of  the 
experience  and  of  the  achievement,  it  will  not  be  mastered. 

14.  The  content  of  the  reading  on  each  level  should  be  adapted  to  the 
general  mental  maturity  of  the  pupil.  On  the  thought  side,  it  should  be  interest- 
ing; and  not  difficult. 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  97 

15.  In  grading  readings,  there  should  be  consideration  of  the  simplicity 
or  complexity  of  grammar,  vocabulary,  and  story  or  thought-content. 

16.  Pupil-readings,  from  recommended  graded  lists  should  be  largely 
self-chosen,  but  chosen. 

17.  A  genuine  reading  ability  is  not  to  be  developed  until  the  students 
read  at  least  ten  times  as  many  pages  as  now  covered  each  year. 

18.  At  present,  an  easy  fluent  reading  ability  is  not  aimed  at.  The 
objective  that  should  be  central  has  been  pushed  into  a  secondary  place. 

19.  After  a  proper  start  is  made,  a  reading  ability  can  be  acquired  by 
those  who  want  it  enough  to  acquire  it,  without  much  labor  on  the  part  of 
teachers;  probably  not  more  than  one  period  per  week. 

20.  After  the  start  has  been  made,  a  language  is  to  be  mastered  in  ways 
and  under  the  conditions  in  which  it  is  to  be  used  after  school  days  are  over. 

21.  Results  being  the  same,  as  shown  by  supervisory  tests,  self-directed 
home-reading  of  foreign-language  books  and  newspapers  should  be  accorded 
larger  credit  than  school -directed  reading  involving  teacher-labor. 

22.  Fundamental  language-experiences  should  be  used  in  maximum 
measure;  accessory,  in  minimum  measure. 

23.  A  student  who  is  learning  to  read  a  modem  language  should  be  expected 
to  do  an  appreciable  portion  of  his  reading  of  literature,  history,  science,  etc., 
in  that  foreign  language. 

24.  The  reading  should  continue  through  all  the  years  of  the  high  school 
after  it  is  begun.  Otherwise  Objective  6  is  not  attained.  But  this  does  not 
demand  class  work.     Reading  is  best  done  outside  of  class. 

25.  In  beginning  a  foreign  language  for  reading  purposes,  the  oral  element 
should  be  sufficient  to  develop  good  pronunciation  habits  and  the  necessary 
auditoiy-articulatory  imagery. 

26.  For  those  who  only  read  the  language,  nothing  more  than  a  moderate 
accuracy  of  pronunciation  is  worth  while. 

27.  Power  oifull  comprehension  is  to  be  developed  through  much  reading 
rather  than  through  complete  understanding  of  every  phrase  read  from  the 
very  beginning.  Attempt  to  secure  the  latter  is  in  the  end  a  most  wasteful 
process. 

28.  For  those  learning  to  read  the  language  only,  composition  serves  no 
sufficient  purpose. 

29.  Not  much  technical  grammar  is  needed  prior  to  beginning  the  reading. 

30.  The  school  should  look  after  the  maintenance  of  a  foreign  language 
once  learned — as  long  as  the  pupil  is  in  school.  [If  it  is  to  lapse  at  once,  why 
teach  it  at  all  ?] 

31.  A  ** knowledge  of  the  life  and  thought  of  foreign  nations" — many 
foreign  nations — is  now  so  important  that  we  cannot  afford  to  trust  the  matter 
to  the  usual  amount  and  character  of  reading  in  one  foreign  language. 

32.  Teachers  of  modem  languages  tend  to  exaggerate  its  values  for  achiev- 
ing Objectives  5,  7,  and  8. 


98  CURRICXJLUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

SS.  If  Objective  No.  7  is  to  be  accomplished  through  learning  languages, 
it  seems  to  demand  some  acquaintance  with  several,  since  the  nations  are 
many.     "Short-unit"  language  courses. 

34.  The  brighter  children  should  be  provided  opportunity  for  acquiring 
the  ability  to  read  a  half-dozen  modem  languages. 

35.  Some  of  the  objectives  of  modem-language  training  are  vague  wishes 
and  hopes;  and  not  objectives  at  all.  Even  the  two  reading  objectives  [i  and 
6]  have  not  been  held  to  as  objectives. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
LATIN 

Latin  is  to  be  employed  as  a  means  in  the  general  training  of  only 
a  portion  of  the  adolescent  population.  In  the  main,  this  will  be  the 
more  competent  minority.  The  following  basal  objectives  appear  to  be 
approved  by  the  department: 

THE  OBJECTIVES 

1.  An  enrichment  and  exfoliation  of  the  language-aspect  of  one's  current 
mental  life — through  extension  and  diversification  of  language  experiences 
which  build  out  and  refine  the  vernacular. 

This  involves  or  tends  to  produce  heightened  appreciations  of  one's 
language;  increased  sensitiveness  to  matters  Unguistic;  increased  responsive- 
ness to  the  dictates  of  the  accepted  canons  of  usage;  greater  watchfulness 
over  one's  language;  elevation  of  standards  of  usage;  a  bulwarking  of  standards 
once  set  up;  and  in  other  ways,  growth  and  refinement  of  one's  language. 

2.  The  ability  to  read  Latin  as  a  language. 

This  is  a  more  immediate  objective,  a  means  to  the  first.  The  thing 
referred  to  is  reading  the  language  for  the  thought  and  general  mental  experi- 
ence, not  translation. 

3.  Increased  ability  to  understand  and  use  the  less  familiar  English  words 
derived  from  the  Latin. 

4.  An  augmented  appreciation  of  the  vocabulary  of  English  speech  through 
the  vision  Latin  gives  of  the  genesis  of  English  words. 

Certain  minor  objectives  were  mentioned  which  appear  legitimate, 
but  which  are  mostly  taken  care  of  incidentally  in  caring  for  the  major 
ones  listed  above.     They  are: 

a)  Increased  ability  to  spell  English  words  of  Latin  origin.  [Value  is 
sUght.] 

b)  Increased  ability  to  understand  Latin  plurals  which  have  been  carried 
over  into  English.    [They  are  few.] 

c)  Increased  knowledge  of  grammar  in  general,  and  therefore  of  English 
grammar.     [English  is  largely  a ''  grammarless  tongue, "  so  not  much  is  needed.] 

d)  Assists  in  mastery  of  Romance  languages.  [Places  the  more  difficult 
language  first.     Rarely  used  for  this  purpose.] 

e)  The  classics  read  give  a  little  knowledge  of  the  life,  history,  mythology 
and  rehgion  of  the  Romans.  [Fragmentary;  vernacular  readings  are  far 
better  for  this  purpose — ^more  effective  and  more  economical.] 

99 


lOO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 

/)  Provides  opportunity  for  practice  in  English  expression  in  the  transla- 
tions.   [One  who  observes  the  results  will  rarely  make  the  claim  seriously.] 

g)  An  elevation  of  literary  taste.  [Not  probable  that  present  methods, 
involving  so  little  reading,  accomplish  much  in  achieving  this  objective.] 

h)  Ability  to  remain  sedentary  or  physically  passive  for  extended  periods, 
while  at  the  same  time  one  is  highly  active  intellectually.  [This  is  a  more 
or  less  artificial  and  induced  condition,  and  highly  necessary — indispensable — 
for  civilized  life.  Any  study  that  involves  the  conditions  will  achieve  the 
result.  It  is  not  certain  that  the  physical  passivity  or  the  intellectual  activity 
is  more  pronounced  or  effective  with  Latin  than  with  any  number  of  other 
possible  studies.] 

i)  The  tendency  is  observable  to  set  up  pure  mental  discipline  objectives: 
"AbUity  to  reason  with  abstract  materials";  ''general  ideals  of  accuracy, 
thoroughness,  and  persistence";  etc.  These,  however,  are  not  objectives 
peculiar  to  Latin  or  any  other  single  subject.  Naturally  every  subject  should 
be  so  handled  that  it  makes  its  due  specific  contribution  to  the  individual's 
general  mental  unfoldment.  It  is  the  belief  of  the  writer  that  if  the  four 
major  objectives  stated  above  are  held  to  and  fully  attained,  all  practicable 
contribution  of  Latin  to  general  training  will  be  made,  and  more  than  at 
present. 

BASIC  ASSUMPTIONS 

1.  One  who  has  the  ability  to  read  Latin  with  fluency  and  pleasure  wiU 
secure  all  the  values  that  can  be  expected  from  its  use  as  a  means  of  general 
training. 

2.  The  high  schools  are  not  justified  in  attempting  vocational  training  of 
specialists  in  classic  languages. 

3.  A  larger  percentage  than  at  present  of  the  high-school  students  should 
acquire  the  ability  to  read  Latin. 

4.  High  schools  should  use  the  most  effective  and  economical  methods  of 
developing  the  ability  to  read  Latin. 

5.  The  basic  experience  in  learning  to  read  Latin  is  to  read  it  abundantly. 
AU  else  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

6.  Reading  should  begin  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  first  year  of  study; 
and  it  should  be  reading,  not  translation. 

7.  After  a  beginning  has  been  made,  translation  serves  no  sufficient  purpose. 
It  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

8.  The  boys  and  girls  should  have  a  fairly  generous  amount  of  easy  repeti- 
tious reading  even  in  the  first  year;  and  an  abundance  of  easy  reading  in 
each  year  thereafter. 

9.  Pupils  need  at  least  ten  times  as  much  reading  experience — ^genuine 
reading,  not  floundering — than  they  now  secure.  [Twenty  times  as  much 
would  be  nearer  the  mark.] 


LATIN  loi 

10.  Story  or  thought-content  being  suitable  to  the  pupil's  maturity  and 
interests,  reading  materials  should  be  graded  on  the  basis  of  difficulty  of 
vocabulary  and  grammar. 

11.  Not  much  technical  grammar  is  needed  prior  to  beginning  the  reading. 

12.  Most  of  the  actually  needed  grammar  can  be  developed  alongside  the 
reading;  the  rest  can  be  omitted. 

13.  Fundamental  language  experiences  should  be  used  :w^  JHftximum 
measure;  accessory,  in  minimum  degree.  './'  ','•:  :    '/  . 

14.  The   classic   literature   was   never   written   for  teaching   purppses;^, 
certainly  not  for  training  beginners  in  the  language.    It  shouifd  not.  lie^  undfe)^-'' 
taken  imtil  one  reads  the  language  in  a  way  that  can  be  called  reading  it — ^not 
mere  stumbling  through  it. 

15.  The  major  values  of  the  Latin  are  derived  from  the  language,  and 
not  from  the  content  of  the  Roman  literature.  As  a  literature,  its  values  are 
not  great. 

16.  Latin  reading  experience  should  be  wholly  [or  mainly]  on  the  play 
level — ^pleasant  but  strenuous  intellectual  play — strenuous  because  of  the 
abundance  of  the  reading,  requiring  concentration,  not  because  of  the  steepness 
of  the  climb,  or  the  number  of  obstacles  in  the  road. 

17.  The  road  of  drudgery  has  not  been  a  road  of  success  in  Latin  training. 
It  enabled  Latin  to  be  an  excellent  selective  device.  The  other  fruits  have 
been  meager. 

18.  The  worship  of  drudgery  by  the  Latin  department  must  end,  or  the 
department  will  end.    It  will  go  the  way  of  Greek. 

19.  The  graded  Latin  readings  should  be  such  on  the  side  of  content  as 
to  be  of  value  for  one's  literature,  history,  science,  etc. 

20.  None  of  the  objectives  demands  Latin  composition  [so-called]. 

21.  One  can  more  fully  and  effectively  enter  into  Roman  life,  into  the 
Mediterranean  civilization,  into  classic  mythology,  legend,  and  history, 
through  the  vernacular  than  through  the  Latin. 

22.  The  student  who  requires  much  teacher-effort  to  keep  him  going  will 
not  profit  sufficiently  from  the  language  to  warrant  the  labor  of  forcing  it 
upon  him. 

23.  After  a  proper  start  is  made,  the  main  thing  needed  is  reading  by  the 
student;  not  teaching  effort  by  the  teacher.  The  latter  will  provide  conditions . 
and  stimulations,  but  class-meetings  need  not  be  frequent. 

24.  The  supposed  disciplinary  value  of  Latin  is  largely  a  phenomenon  of 
its  selective  value. 

25.  The  objectives  are  not  to  be  achieved  merely  by  enunciating  them 
in  the  abstract,  and  then  neglecting  them  and  organizing  the  subject  merely 
according  to  one's  personal  predilections. 

26.  The  objectives  must  be  kept  clearly  in  view  in  planning  every  step 
to  be  taken.  No  step  is  justifiable  that  does  not  demonstrably  advance  the 
student  toward  one  or  another  of  the  goals. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abilities,  list  of,  8-32 

Ability,  nature  of  an,  33-35 

Accessory  pupil-activities,  41-44 

Agriculture,  83-85 

Animals,  care  of,  16 

Appreciations,  33-36 

Art,  86-88 

Assumptions:  general,  41-44;  literature, 
47-49;  social  studies,  52-61;  mathe- 
matics, 65-66;  biology,  68-69;  phys- 
ical science,  71-73;  physical  training, 
74-78;  music,  88-91;  home  occupa- 
tions, 80-82;  practical  arts  for  boys, 
84-85;  visual  art,  87-88;  English 
expression,  92-94;  modem  languages, 
96-98;  Latin,  loo-ioi 

Attitudes,  33-36 

Biology,  38,  67-69 

Care  of  the  person,  21 

Citizenship  objectives,  7,  23-25 

Civic  agencies,  23 

Civic  education,  23 

Civics,  60-61 

Cleaning,  19-20 

Clothing  activities,  17-18 

College-entrance  requirements,  37,  66 

Committees,  course  of  study,  i,  2 

Composition,  92-94 

Cooking,  18-19 

Department  of  Educational  Research,  i,  3 
Departments,  high  school,  37 
Domestic  science,  79-82 
Dorsey,  Susan  M. ,  3 
Drawmg,  86-88 

Economics,  59-60 

Educational  objectives,  general,  3-32,  37 

Electrical,  14 

EngUsh  language,  8,  92-94 

Fields  of  human  activity,  7 
Financial  activities,  21-22 


Fine  arts,  20-21 

Fire  protection,  14-15 

Foreign  language,  8 

French,  95-98 

Fundamental  pupil-activities,  41-44 

Garden,  15-16 

Gardening,  83-85 

General  training,  38-39 

Geography,  58-59 

Good  citizen,  characteristics  of,  24 

Gould,  Arthur,  3 

Grammar,  33 

Griffin,  A.  C,  3 

Habits,  33-36 

Health  objectives,  9-1 1 

History,  56-58 

Home  occupations,  79-82 

House  and  equipment,  12-14 

Hypothesis  as  basis  of  work,  6-7,  40,  47 

Knowledge,  place  of,  33-36 

Language,  8,  92-101 

Latin,  99-101 

Laimdry,  19-20 

Leisure  occupations,  7,  26-28 

Literature,  37,  45-49 

Manual  training,  83-85 
Mathematics,  38,  39,  62-66 
Mental  efficiency,  objectives,  7,  28-30 
Method  of  formulating  the  list  of  abilities, 

5-6 
Modem  languages,  95-98 
Music,  89-91 

Objectives:  home  occupations,  11-22, 
79-80;  practical  arts  for  boys,  11-22, 
83-84;  literature,  45-46;  social  studies, 
50-52;  mathematics,  63-64;  biology, 
67-68;  physical  science,  70;  physical 
training,  74;  visual  art,  86;  music,  89; 
English  expression,  92;    modem  lan- 

criiaorpss    nc—nff     T.Jifin     nn—inn 


O-^AX^XXOXX         Vy.^^XX./OOXVfXX,         V         9  XXXWX 

guages,  95-96;  Latin,  99-100 


los 


io6 


CURRICULUM-MAKING  IN  LOS  ANGELES 


Occupational  objectives,  7,  22 
Outdoor  life,  16-17 

Parental  objectives,  7,  31-32 

Pets,  care  of,  16 

Physical  science,  38,  70-73 

Physical  training,  9-1 1,  74-78 

Play,  43-44,  48,  53 

Practical  arts  for  boys,  83-85 

Premises,  the,  15-16 

Principles  of  curriculum-making,  41,  47 

Pupil-activities,  39,  42-44,  46 

Reading,  45-49 
Religious  education,  30 
Religious  objectives,  7,  30-31 

Sanitation,  household,  20 
Science  studies,  67-73 
Short-unit  courses,  84-85 


Social  intercommunication,  7,  8,  9 
Social  objectives,  25-26 
Social  studies,  50-61 
Spanish,  95-98 
Superintendent  of  schools,  i,  3 

Teacher-participation     in      curriculum- 
making,  2,  6,  32 

Tools,  materials,  and  processes,  11-12 
Travel,  16-17 

University  of  Chicago,  5 
Unspecialized  practical  labors,  7,  11-22 

Visual  art,  86-88 
Vocational  training,  38-39 

Watson,  Helen,  3 

Work  experiences,  43-44,  53 


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